


Sideswiped

by Puntrest



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Laura is the only human main character, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-04-28 07:25:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5082946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puntrest/pseuds/Puntrest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Controversy hits Silas University, the most prestigious school for the supernaturally gifted, as it begins accepting the human children of alumni. Tensions grow further once it becomes known that a vampire hunter is on campus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Weirdly Serious

The smell of barbecue hung over the crowd, and Laura Hollis was on the hunt to find the source. She was having difficulties maneuvering through the busy campus grounds as they were filled with club booths, food stands, information desks, and small carnival games run by the abundance of similarly-named fraternities and sororities. It was all very exciting, but Laura’s growling stomach and general enthusiasm for the words “free” and “food” demanded that she prioritize finding lunch above all else.

In her haste, Laura stumbled into a colorful booth manned by two redheads that looked as if no one had spoken to them in hours.

“Hello there!” The curly haired one perked up immediately as Laura steadied herself. “My name is Lola Perry, or just Perry. I am the elected student ambassador for witches, wizards, and spellcasters in the Silas University student government association.”

The second redhead gave a quick wave. “LaFontaine. Former vice president of the Alchemy Club, current vice president for the Advanced Potions and Magical Mixtures Honor Society.”

“I’m Laura Hollis.” She paused. “Freshman and aspiring journalist.”

Perry gestured to the assortment of pamphlets and buttons on the table. “Well, Laura Hollis, LaFontaine and I are here today to show support for the university’s new policy of accepting non-gifted individuals. In fact, we are planning to propose an additional clause that would allow for all supernaturally aware humans to apply for enrollment. Those silly restrictions of being a blood descendent of a Silas graduate are simply not adequate. What about the adopted children of alumni? Or the stepchildren? The university has no right to discriminate based on blood relation. Please, sign our petition if you agree.”

“Of course! Yes, I’d love to sign.” Laura was reaching for the clipboard and pen before Perry even had time to offer them, though her enthusiasm took a hit upon seeing how few signatures they had collected. “Do people not like activism around here or something?”

LaFontaine took the clipboard back with a shrug. “Honestly, people just don’t like humans around here.”

“Oh.” Laura knew that it would be a difficult transition for the school, but she hadn’t expected to face such a harsh reality so soon.

The pair of redheads shared a glance before Perry asked Laura in whisper, “I don’t mean to pry, but are you a human by chance?”

“Yeah, I am.” She answered with some hesitation. The mixed looks of concern that had taken hold of Perry and LaFontaine stirred an uneasiness within Laura. Her confidence was quickly replaced with worry. The duo pulled Laura around the booth, both checking around to ensure that their conversation would remain private.

“Sweetie.” Perry planted her hands on Laura’s shoulders with a motherly grip. “I need you to listen very carefully to us, okay?”

Laura let out a nervous chuckle. “This is getting a little weirdly serious, don’t you think? I’m a human. So what? Big deal.”

Perry shook her head. “No, no. Not here. Don’t say that here.”

“But you just asked me if I was—“ A quick hand motion from Perry silenced Laura before she could finish her protest.

LaFontaine scratched their head. “Listen, I don’t see any reason to beat around the bush here. This campus is full of angsty supernatural beings who were forced into hiding by the ceaseless bigotry of humanity. The last time any of us tried to coexist with humans, magicfolk like us were burned alive in a literal witch hunt.”

Releasing Laura’s shoulders, Perry added, “There are people who think that allowing humans into Silas is disrespectful to those who have died from human violence. They think that their safe haven from humans has been violated.”

Laura felt sick to her stomach, her appetite long forgotten. “I would never hurt anyone, supernatural or human. I just came here to learn.”

“Of course!” Perry smiled. “As you know, LaFontaine and I are very much in favor of allowing human students at Silas. We just want you to be prepared for when you come across those who aren’t quite as supportive. There are some who can be fairly…hostile.”

LaFontaine nudged Perry. “Don’t forget there’s that ambiguous rule in the student handbook that technically makes it okay to kill a human on campus.”

Laura laughed. “You’re joking, right? There’s no way they could have left in a rule like that with humans living here now.”

Perry sighed. “It’s just a small technicality in the wording. It’s easily avoidable. All you have to do is make sure that you never present yourself in an edible fashion.”

Laura’s voice rose as panic set in. “What does that even mean?”

LaFontaine handed Laura a button that read ‘ _humans are friends, not food’_. “It means that it’s in your best interest to avoid hungry vampires.”

—

From the edge of the cafeteria rooftop, Carmilla Karnstein surveyed the activities of the quad below. She’d been ignoring the bickering taking place behind her for so long that she almost didn’t notice when a fourth vampire joined them. The newcomer’s heels clicked against the rooftop as she made her way over to where Carmilla sat.

Sniffing at the air, Matska Belmonde smiled. “Don’t you just love the smell of humans in the morning?”

Carmilla groaned. “Can’t enjoy much of anything with Dumb and Dumber following me everywhere I go and fighting like toddlers.”

“Leave us.” Mattie demanded. The other two left without another word. Everyone, including non-vampires, knew not to cross Matska Belmonde. She was centuries old, faster than sound, and rumor had it that she could kill a centaur with merely the snap of her fingers.

Carmilla feigned a sigh of relief. She didn’t know how to admit that the newfound quiet was even worse than the previous arguing she’d been forced to endure. Mattie saw through the act, just as Carmilla knew she would. There was no pretending between them. They’d bared their souls to each other far too many times throughout the centuries for there to be any secrets.

“Perhaps the board is right.” Mattie shrugged while examining the crowd below. “Perhaps the humans will reinvigorate student morale after all.”

“They’ll all be dead before the year is up, you know that.” Carmilla lowered her sunglasses over her eyes as the sun started to peak through the clouds.

“True.” Mattie allowed. “Regardless, this is one debate that the board can finally put to rest. Now we can have actual progress be discussed.”

“How many of the humans actually showed up?” Carmilla asked out of curiosity. Like Mattie, she could smell the unmistakable scent of human blood lingering in the wind. There were at least three or four of them wandering around the festivities below, that much she could guarantee.

“All ten have moved in.” There was a hint of disbelief to her tone. “Ten foolish little souls.”

“I’ll bet the wolves are first to bite.” Carmilla joked.

Mattie chuckled. “The werewolves will be trailing those humans like lost, pathetic little pups.”

“Seriously though, who do you think will be first in line at the buffet? Dear brother Will? The newborn?”

“You’ll keep our kind in line.” Mattie said, partly as a warning. “Besides, the first to spill human blood will be the sirens. You’re forgetting that we recruited a human onto the swim team.”

“Might as well dig the grave for that one now.” Carmilla turned so that Mattie wouldn’t be able to see her frown. “Assuming they can even find enough of the body to bury.”

—

Laura was seated in the second row of her Introduction to Supernatural Evolution class, between two girls that she had met during Silas’s mandatory human-only orientation. On her left was Sarah Jane, a party girl from the countryside. She was the only member of her family born without the werewolf gene. On Laura’s right sat Betty, a shrewd girl who, according to Sarah Jane, perpetually lived with a “stick up her butt”. Betty had refused to disclose what type of supernatural gift she’d been denied of, just as she’d refused to partake in any ‘get-to-know-each-other’ games during orientation. She was stubborn and aloof, but she was a part of the First Ten and that meant they had to be around her whether they wanted to or not.

The classroom door opened and the professor strutted inside with mere seconds to spare on the clock. A tall redhead followed in after her, stopping only to close the door behind them.

“Good afternoon.” The professor greeted as she handed her briefcase to the redhead. “My name is Matska Belmonde, and I will be your instructor for the semester. This is Danny Lawrence, my teaching assistant. If you have any questions about grades, I advise you to take them up with Miss Lawrence. Now, I assume you’ve all read the first chapter of your textbook. Who can tell me what the first known supernatural creature was?”

Laura’s hand shot into the air out of instinct. She was the only student in the entire class who wanted to prove that she knew the answer, but that was nothing new to her. Laura had been an overachiever her whole life. If she wasn’t ahead of the game, she was failing. She may not have been born with a supernatural gift, but she had been born the determination to rise to the top and that was enough for her.

Professor Belmonde pointed to her. “Your name?”

“Laura Hollis.” She smiled, pleased to be the first name that the teacher would know. First impressions were everything. “And the first known supernatural creature was a forest fairy.”

“That is correct.” Professor Belmonde turned to the chalkboard and began writing. The noise of a hundred students pulling out paper and pens to write down notes filled the room. “Forest fairies, now thought to be extinct, lived in this world long before humans ever took their first steps.”

—

Lounging on the stairs of the freshmen dormitory hall, Carmilla tried to find shapes in the dark clouds overhead. There wasn’t much to work with, but she’d been able to pick out a deformed rabbit or two without much trouble.

Her breath caught in her throat as the scent of humans drifted her way on the breeze. Approaching from the right were three girls, each one as rosy cheeked as the next. To entertain herself, Carmilla considered how she would go about hunting them. It wouldn’t be hard, even if there were three. She’d hide in the bushes and wait until the opportune moment to strike. The athletic blonde would need to be taken down first—as much as Carmilla loved a good chase, there could be no witnesses and the campus would be full of those. After the blonde, the cowgirl in all pink would be next. If Carmilla was lucky, that one would faint all on her own. That left the tiny brunette in the middle for dessert. She could feel herself salivating just from looking the girl up and down. But the more she stared, the more unsure she grew of saving that one for last.

Carmilla knew that she needed to remove herself from the situation, the trio of humans were mere seconds away from the stairs after all, but something about the bubbly smile of the girl in the middle made it hard to look away. It was the kind of smile that lit up her whole face, one that shined a little light into the dreary afternoon. When the girl finally noticed that Carmilla was staring, her smile faltered. A look of awe crossed her face, one that all vampires were familiar with seeing, but there was something different in the expression this time. There was more than just instinctual amazement, there was recognition. That human knew what Carmilla was, and yet she approached like nothing was wrong. In fact, the three human girls walked right on by, as if they hadn’t just passed the one supernatural creature that’s entire existence depended on feeding off the blood of other creatures, especially and preferably the blood of humans.

To say that her ego took a hit would be an understatement. Carmilla had never seen a human recognize her for what she was and not run in the opposite direction before. Her throat grew dry as the lingering scent of human blood filled her lungs. She dug her nails into the palms of her hands as she waited for the feeling to pass.

It was in that moment Carmilla knew she had been wrong earlier with Mattie. She’d said the humans wouldn’t last the year, but in reality the humans would be lucky if they even made it to their first midterm.

—

For the fifteenth time that hour, Laura checked out her window to see if the girl on the front stairs was still there. And for the fifteenth time, she still was.

Laura had known from the moment she’d laid eyes on the girl that she was a vampire. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful, it was the way she was beautiful. The attraction was more than sexual, it was supernatural. When Laura had locked eyes with the vampire, she’d felt the powerful attraction deep within the very core of her being. She’d felt like she’d found a goddess walking the Earth, like she’d stumbled across a fallen angel. But beneath the beauty and the heavenly aura there was danger. Those eyes, as black as night, had burned into Laura with an intensity that had left her breathless. There was no mistaking that girl for what she was—the apex predator of the supernatural world.

In her excitement, Laura had read ahead in the textbook for her Introduction to Supernatural Evolution class. Vampires were the world’s deadliest creatures. They were stealthier than werewolves, more widespread than sirens, stronger than leprechauns, faster than centaurs, smarter than trolls, and almost as hard to kill as a shapeshifter. They tended to live in familial clusters, but could do fine on their own. Statistically, more “unexplained” human deaths were caused by vampires than by any other living creature. Other than zombies created by magicfolk, vampires were the only true undead beings. They never aged, they never got sick, and they didn’t even need to breathe.

If there was one supernatural creature above all others that Laura needed to stay away from, it was a vampire.

She checked the window again, and to her surprise the stairs were empty. Thunder rolled through the clouds as rain began to fall. A knock thudded against her door, startling her. For the briefest of moments she hoped it would be the girl from the stairs, but as she opened the door to reveal Perry and LaFontaine she realized how stupid that was of her. She shook all thoughts of vampires from her head and invited her new friends into the room with a welcoming smile.

—

Carmilla plopped down on the couch and threw her feet up on the coffee table. Mattie grimaced at the muddy boots until Carmilla sighed and placed them back on the floor.

“Now that we’re all here…” Mattie cleared her throat and took a seat in the elegant armchair opposite the couch. “I’ve just been informed of some terrible news.”

“One of the humans is dead already?” Danny guessed, fidgeting nervously with the zipper of her letterman jacket. She’d been a nervous wreck ever since the humans had set foot on campus. Danny was a newborn, not even a year old yet. She’d be the first suspect if a human turned up missing, whether she wanted to run around ranting about human rights or not.

“She said it was terrible news.” Will said with a grin. “Not the inevitable.”

“It is terrible, yes.” Mattie nodded.

“Well?” Carmilla asked. “Enough with the suspense, what is it?”

Mattie took in a deep breath. “Two of the freshman vampires—excuse me, the _only_ freshman vampires, were found dead with silver arrows in their chests.” She paused. “We all know what this means.”

Danny shook her head. “What does it mean?”

Mattie sighed. “It would appear that we’ve a hunter on campus.”

“A hunter?” Danny raised a brow. “Like a vampire hunter?”

Carmilla looked to Mattie, ignoring Danny’s questions. “What should we do?”

Will stood from the couch. “What do we do? We go find the bastard, that’s what we do.”

Mattie gave him a stern look until he sat down again. “We are to become alert, not proactive. The board has requested that there be a thorough but quiet investigation into the murders. And I would advise you all to keep this information to yourselves.”

“They’re going to cover it up?” Danny asked, surprised.

“Of course not.” Mattie answered. “The board has simply decided that it would be for the best not to make this tragedy public knowledge yet. There is no actual proof that a human is the killer, but one mention of silver arrows will send this campus into a frenzy. It would be a PR nightmare if ten little humans went missing on the second day of classes.”

“We can’t just do nothing.” Will protested.

“That is exactly what you will do.” Mattie warned in a calm voice.

In huff, Will fled the room. Mattie ordered Danny to go keep an eye on him, though they all knew it was Danny that would be needing a watchful babysitter instead.

Carmilla waited for her to leave before speaking. “What do you need me to do?”

“Find it.” Mattie said nonchalantly as she looked over her manicure. “Start with the ten humans. Give no one the benefit of the doubt. This hunter has skills, it will no doubt be putting up a good front. Find it. Kill it. And then we can all move on from this.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Carmilla promised.

Mattie glanced at her. “You’d better. One more slipup and Mother will have you put back into the ground.”

She stood and repeated, “I’ll take care of it.”

“Yes, of course, you will.” Mattie smiled. “Make sure to keep Will and Danny out of trouble, while you’re at it. Tell them that if they behave, we’ll take a daytrip up to the village and find a few treats to share.”

“I don’t know which task will be harder. Finding a hunter or keeping those two from snacking on freshmen.” With that, Carmilla left Mattie’s office and headed out into the night, anxiously aware that at any moment a silver arrow could come flying her way.


	2. Foul-Mouthed Hooligans

“It’s quite remarkable, really.” LaFontaine poked the specimen in the jar they were holding out on display for the others to view. “The growth rate has been much faster than expected. I’d say it’ll be full grown in a day or two. I’m thinking of giving it a name, but I haven’t settled on what yet.”

Laura let her apple fall back to the lunch tray, her appetite vanishing as the neon slime creature in LaFontaine’s jar squirmed around.

“LaF, put it away.” Perry said upon noticing Laura’s paling complexion.

“Oh. Uh, sorry, Laura.” LaFontaine apologized as they shoved the jar back into their bag. “Sometimes I forget that not everyone gets as excited about poisonous bioluminescent slugs as I do.”

“No worries.” Laura dismissed the issue, along with her tray of half eaten food.

“So, how’re classes going?” Perry asked before taking a bite of her pizza.

“Good.” Laura answered, lighting up at the chance to talk about school. “Yeah, I love all of my classes. I’m particularly fond of Intro to Supernatural Evolution though. Professor Belmonde is a genius, I don’t know how she remembers so much information.”

Perry nearly choked on her pizza. “Professor Belmonde?”

Laura nodded. “Yeah, have you had her before? She’s amazing. I love her already.”

LaFontaine leaned in to speak more privately. “You do know that Professor Belmonde is a vampire, right? That’s why she’s so intelligent, she’s been around for hundreds of years. She’s even older than JP Armitage, the ghost librarian.”

Laura laughed, assuming that they must be messing with her. There was no way that Professor Belmonde could be a vampire. Laura would’ve known something like that by now. “Right, and I’m a unicorn.”

Slowly placing her hand over Laura’s on the table with a genuinely concerned look, Perry said, “Laura, if one of your parents was a unicorn, you can tell us. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Interbreeding is more common than you think.”

“What?” Laura pulled her hand away from Perry’s. “No, I’m not part unicorn! And Belmonde isn’t a vampire. I saw a real vampire yesterday sitting outside of my dorm hall. How I felt when I saw her…I’ve never felt that way before in my life, and especially not around a teacher.”

LaFontaine and Perry shared an uneasy look before Perry took out a notepad and began scribbling furiously on the paper. “If you don’t believe us, go here. There’s a picture in the library of the original Silas board members. You’ll recognize Professor Belmonde as one of them.”

Perry ripped out the note and slid it across the table to her. Laura took it, already knowing that Perry and LaFontaine had to be right. There was no reason for them to lie.

“It just doesn’t make any sense.” Laura said. “When I saw that girl yesterday, I felt so weird. Like…I was safe and in danger all at once. Like I could trust her, even though the voice in the back of my head was screaming that I should run away. I wanted to…know her. So badly. Like my life depended on it.”

Perry shrugged. “Maybe you’ve just never stood close enough to Professor Belmonde to really get the full vampire effect before.”

LaFontaine added, “And you do seem to really admire Professor Belmonde. Part of that is probably tied in with the vampire effect too.”

“Vampire effect.” Laura grumbled. “How do people around here deal with that all the time?”

“You get used to it.” Perry promised. “And I’ve often found that once you get to know a vampire, some of the appeal is lost. You start to see them as a person rather than as some mysterious, beautiful creature luring you to your death.”

“Are you friends with many vampires?” Laura asked.

LaFontaine answered, “We know one. Danny Lawrence. I’d like to think she’s a friend, though we don’t really see her socially all that much. She’s a part of our activist group that advocates for human rights on campus. We’re not an official club yet, but the paperwork has been submitted.”

“Wait.” Laura paused to let everything sink in. “Danny Lawrence? The TA for my Intro to Supernatural Evolution class? She’s a vampire too?”

“And an ally.” Perry assured her. “Years ago, before she was turned, Danny tried to enroll at Silas but they rejected her because she was a human. She’s very invested in helping us get the new clause added that would allow for all supernaturally aware humans to apply. She knows how it feels to be in their shoes.”

“Do all the vampires on campus know each other?” Laura wondered aloud. Perhaps Danny could tell her who the girl from the stairs had been.

“For the most part.” LaFontaine said. “The Dean’s family is a fairly tight-knit clique, but they socialize with other vampires too.”

“The Dean?” Laura raised a brow. “As in the Dean of Students?”

“That’s the one.” LaFontaine nodded. “She’s Danny and Professor Belmonde’s vampire mother.”

Laura ran a hand through her hair, trying to keep up with all the information that was being thrown her way. “So, let me get this straight. The Dean of Students is a vampire, and she turned Professor Belmonde and her TA Danny Lawrence?”

“Centuries ago for Belmonde, much more recently for Danny.” Perry explained.

“Who else is in the family?” Laura questioned with a particular vampire in mind.

LaFontaine began listing on their fingers. “The Dean, Professor Belmonde, Danny, that one really creepy guy Will, and there’s another one but no one ever sees much of her.”

“Caroline?” Perry guessed. “No. Camille? Camila? Something like that. Danny’s mentioned her before.”

“Do you think she could be the girl that I saw in front of the freshman dorm hall?” Laura asked, a little too eagerly.

“It’s possible.” LaFontaine said indifferently. “But the Dean’s family aren’t the only vampires around here. They’re just the…”

“The ‘ _it_ ’ group.” Perry finished for them.

“Yeah, the ‘ _it_ ’ group. Everyone knows who they are.” LaFontaine continued. “And if you actually spot one of them outside of a classroom, the others usually aren’t too far away.”

Collecting her things, Laura paused to ask, “Will Danny Lawrence be working the human rights booth with us at the career fair next week?”

“Probably not.” Perry answered slowly, suspicious of Laura’s intent. “She’s a very busy person, and, as we said, usually accompanied by one of her siblings. Human rights aren’t very popular with the other vampires.”

Laura stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Well I’ll see you guys later. I’ve got a paper to write.”

As Laura left, Perry and LaFontaine gave each other knowing looks.

“We shouldn’t have told her to stay away from the vampires.” LaFontaine deduced while pulling out the jar with the neon slug again.

Perry let out a heavy sigh. “No, we shouldn’t have. At this rate, she’ll be waltzing into the lion’s den all on her own.”

LaFontaine thought it over for a moment. “I think if I had to go into a lion’s den or a vampire’s lair, I’d prefer the lion.”

Perry had a rant ready to roll, but LaFontaine’s comment made her reevaluate. “I’d want the vampire. A lion might want to play with its food, like a cat with a mouse.”

LaFontaine asked, “And the vampire wouldn’t?”

“Touché.” Perry said sullenly, watching from across the cafeteria as Laura tripped her way through the exit doors. “Touché.”

—

Carmilla had been sitting in the high branches of a tree near the freshman dorm hall for close to an hour. With her butt starting to get sore and her patience growing thin, she was in the middle of contemplating ditching the stakeout when the scent of human finally hit her nose. She searched for the source, and was pleased to see that the human walking on the pathway below was the tiny brunette she’d encountered once before. Laura Hollis. She’d been daydreaming about that one off and on throughout the dull afternoon.

There were ten human students at Silas, and she’d done what little research she could on them. She’d used Mattie’s account the night before to check the online student records, where all student photo IDs could be accessed. So far the main contenders for possibly being a vampire hunter were: Betty Spielsdorf, the swim team recruit who already had a reputation for being unfriendly; Sarah Jane, the farm girl who likely spent more time growing up around cattle than with kids her own age; Natalie Truong, a girl fluent in elvish with renowned magicfolk for parents; and finally, Laura Hollis, a seemingly unthreatening Type A personality that absolutely no one knew anything about. Carmilla had already spent the morning trailing after Betty, Sarah Jane, and Natalie, and all three were still at the top of her list of suspects, but she’d been looking forward to learning a little more about the elusive Laura Hollis. She was especially concerned with figuring out just why the human girl had captivated her so much the day before.

“Laura Hollis.” Carmilla muttered the name as she watched the girl go up the stairs to the freshman dorm hall. Mattie had warned Carmilla not to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, that the least likely suspect could very well be the vampire hunter, and she was keen on following that advice. Laura Hollis looked like a walking cupcake, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t poison inside.

With agile ease, Carmilla swung herself to the ground and scampered up the stairs. She tracked the girl’s scent all the way to the third floor, where she spotted Laura struggling to find her keys. Carmilla waited until Laura had the dorm room unlocked before she made her move. Moving at top speed, she made it to the doorway just in time to slide her boot between the door and the frame. She nudged it open and lowered her sunglasses over her eyes so that it wouldn’t be too obvious she was surveying the room for clues.

The human girl didn’t even notice that Carmilla was in the doorway until she’d already tossed her backpack to the floor and begun reaching for a pack of cookies.

“Holy crap!” She exclaimed in surprise, her hand moving to her chest. Carmilla wondered if the hand over heart reaction was done intentionally or not.

“Nice room.” Carmilla made sure to keep her voice calm and monotone. She didn’t want to alarm the girl too much. Though it would end her search for the vampire hunter earlier than expected, she wasn’t really in the mood to have a silver arrow aimed at her face.

“Thanks.” Laura replied slowly. “Is there…something I can do for you?”

“Oh, there are a lot of things you could do for me, cutie.” Carmilla smirked, happy to see a blush creep across Laura’s cheeks.

—

The speed at which Laura’s cool fled her set a new personal record. She stumbled backward over her own feet as the vampire stood in the doorway and watched.

“Sunglasses indoors. Interesting choice.” Laura cringed at her attempted in making small talk.

“Does it bother you?” She asked, a small smirk still pulling at the corner of her lips.

“No. Why would it?” Laura tried to shrug, but she was so tense that her shoulders locked up.

“You seem scared.” The vampire said while tilting her head forward to peer over the sunglasses. “I only bite if you ask me to.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Speaking of asking things, and this might be a really stupid question, but…do I have to invite you in? Like, can you enter someone’s home without permission?” Laura asked, earning a chuckle from the other girl. “Sorry. I knew that would be a dumb question. Of course it’s just a myth.”

Wordlessly, the vampire stepped further into Laura’s dorm room, allowing for the door to finally swing shut. She walked closer and closer until she was standing right in front of Laura.

Laura was utterly mesmerized by the girl before her. Much to Laura’s surprise, she didn’t smell like blood or coffins or death. Instead, she smelled faintly of coffee and roses. As the vampire lifted the sunglasses from her eyes, Laura could see that they weren’t pitch black after all, but rather a dark chocolatey brown.

Quietly the girl asked, “Can I come in?”

“You’re already inside.” Laura replied dumbly. As an afterthought, she added, “Yes.”

“You’re very trusting, for a human.” Her tone was almost suspicious. “Why is that?”

Laura forced her shoulders to relax. “You’re very inquisitive, for a vampire. Why is that?”

The vampire smiled, a sight that made Laura weak. It was there, in that moment, that Laura knew she’d reached a point of no return. There would be no running from this budding infatuation. She was trapped in the vampire’s web, and there was nothing she could do.

“They call me Carmilla.” She watched Laura closely, looking for something.

“The Dean’s daughter.” The words fell out before Laura could think twice about them.

Carmilla crossed her arms over her chest and quirked a brow. “Been asking around about me?”

“No.” The room grew hot as she struggled to piece together the right response. “My friends were telling me about Professor Belmonde. I have a class with her. Your name may have been mentioned.”

“I can smell your fear.” She said before abruptly taking a step closer. “Do I make you nervous?”

“Yes.” Laura admitted in a whisper. She swallowed hard and added, “I can’t pretend that knowing you could kill me at any moment isn’t a little on the terrifying side.”

The close proximity and the intensity of her gaze kindled an almost animalistic desire within Laura. Never before in her life had she felt such a strong need to grab the back of someone’s neck and pull them into a heated kiss. It was absurd, to feel such a way for a stranger, but the seductive way Carmilla stared at her with parted lips left her feeling dizzy. She couldn’t think straight around this girl, and the worst part was that she didn’t even want to. Danger, Laura quickly learned, was addictive.

The smirk returned at the corner of her mouth. “Relax, Hollis. Are you always this dramatic?”

Somewhat in a daze, Laura asked, “How do you know my name?”

Without replying, Carmilla turned and headed for the door. She opened it, stopped, and said over her shoulder, “A word of advice…” She dropped the sunglasses back over her eyes. “Never be alone with a vampire.”

She was gone in a flash, leaving Laura standing in the middle of the room feeling distressingly confused and aroused.

—

Carmilla loathed being in Silas’s cafeteria, but she was desperate. She sat in the corner, as far away from everyone else as she could get, and downed one Blood ‘n Juice box after another. The taste was subpar, but it was just enough to keep her from running back to the freshman dorms and making a meal out of Laura Hollis.

The small carton crumpled in her grip as she finished her fourth box and tossed it aside. She’d been so close to sinking her teeth into that human’s neck. Every second she’d been in that room had been more torturous than the last.

“I’m surprised to see you in here.” Danny’s sudden appearance startled Carmilla, though her practiced blank expression would never show it.

“I was thirsty.” Carmilla grumbled in response. Before she could protest, Danny took the seat opposite her.

“I can see that.” Danny said as she nudged the pile of disfigured juiceboxes. “Rough day?” When Carmilla didn’t answer, Danny was unbothered. She was used to Carmilla ignoring her. “Me too. Mattie is obsessed with wanting all the Intro to Super Evo papers graded in one day, like there aren’t over a hundred of them to read through.”

Carmilla was seconds away from reminding Danny that she didn’t care when she remembered what Laura had said about being in one of Mattie’s classes. “Are there any humans in that class?”

Danny stared at Carmilla as she stabbed the straw into her juicebox. “Why? I’m not going to bite one. Mattie is standing ten feet away from me the whole time.”

“That’s not what I asked.” Carmilla groaned. She hated that Danny was the only one she could ask about Laura but bringing the situation up to Mattie would be astronomically worse. “How many humans are in the class?”

Danny rolled her eyes. “Four.”

“Which four?” Carmilla asked.

“Do you even know how big that class is?” Danny threw out her hands.

Carmilla’s hands balled into fists beneath the table. “Don’t act like you can’t smell them on the papers they turn in. Just tell me the names.”

Danny hesitated before saying, “Betty, Sarah Jane, Laura, and Elsie.”

“Do you know which is which?”

“Yes.”

“Do any of them stand out to you?”

Danny narrowed her gaze, cautious. “Is this about the hunter?”

“Answer the question.” Carmilla demanded.

Danny shrugged. “Stand out how?”

Carmilla sighed. “Just tell me what you think about them.”

Annoyed, Danny replied, “They all wrote decent first papers. Betty has the other three beat academically, but Laura is the best writer. Sarah Jane has a…creative mind. And Elsie did the bare minimum.”

“What else?” Carmilla pressed.

Danny fiddled with the straw in her juicebox. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

Carmilla took her time with asking. One wrong word and Danny would go run and tell Mattie everything. “This stays between us.” She waited until Danny nodded in agreement to continue. “I think I know who the hunter is.”

Danny’s eyes grew wide. “Who? One of the girls in class?”

Carmilla glanced around to make sure no one would be able to eavesdrop. “I spoke with one of them today. There’s something…strange…about her. It feels like there’s a giant magnet dragging me toward her, I don’t know how to else to describe it. When I was near her, I felt like a newborn again. The bloodlust was almost too much for me. I had to leave.”

“Which girl?” Danny asked, shocked that Carmilla was confiding in her.

“You don’t know?” Carmilla felt the Blood ‘n Juice churning in her stomach. “You don’t feel that way in class?”

“No.” Danny shook her head. “What does that mean?”

Carmilla rubbed her temples until the queasiness passed. “I don’t know what it means, but it can’t be good. I’ve never felt such a strong attraction to a human before. If you don’t feel that way too…it must be a spell, or some kind of new bullshit hunter skill.”

“Hunter skill?” Danny questioned. “Wait, so, you think a human tried to lure you to your death, instead of the other way around?”

“I don’t know.” Carmilla grumbled. She hadn’t been so frustrated about a human in ages.

“Who are we even talking about?” Danny asked, only to be ignored again.

As Carmilla stood to leave, she warned, “Don’t be alone with any of the humans.”

—

Laura sat on the front stairs to the freshman dorm hall, consumed with thoughts of Carmilla.

“Are you okay?” Betty asked her, stopping halfway up the stairs.

“What?” Laura snapped out of her daydream with a jump.

“Are you okay?” Betty asked again. It was the first time Laura had ever seen her show concern for another person.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Why? What’s up?” Laura tried her best to sound like she hadn’t just been fantasizing about a vampire she barely knew.

Betty checked over her shoulder before saying, “It’s just…lately I’ve gotten the feeling that someone is…never mind. It’s silly. How do you think you did on the paper?”

“Hopefully good. You?” Laura answered, distracted by the abrupt overwhelming feeling that they were being watched.

“I already know I did well. I asked the TA about my grade when I saw her in line in the cafeteria.” Betty smiled sheepishly. “She seemed kind of nervous around me. Do you think…do you think I would have a shot with her? I know she’s our TA and it’s inappropriate, but she won’t always be our TA.”

Laura had only been half-listening, but the mention of their TA drew her back to the conversation. “No! I mean, Betty, you can’t ask her out. Danny is a vampire.”

Untroubled, Betty shrugged. “I know. I’m not scared of vampires.”

Laura used the railing to pull herself up to her feet. She put the effort into climbing several steps so that she would be at eye level with Betty when she spoke.

“Not scared of vampires?” She asked incredulously. “Not scared of _vampires_? How could you not be scared of vampires?”

Betty scowled at her. “They aren’t monsters! They’re real people. They have feelings. You know, I expected this kind of thing from the others, but not from you. How could you be so blindly prejudiced against a group of people you know nothing about?”

Laura gasped as understanding waved over her. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry, Betty. I didn’t know your parents are vampires.”

“Parent.” Betty corrected. “My dad.”

“I’m sorry.” Laura felt ashamed for letting the paranoia get the best of her. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s okay.” Betty waved it away. “I can’t really blame you. On paper, they aren’t the nicest creatures in the world. But that still doesn’t mean they aren’t people.”

Betty continued on her way into the dorm hall, and Laura sat back down on the stairs feeling like one hell of a judgmental jerk.

—

Carmilla waited until Spielsdorf left before she joined Hollis on the stairs. She startled the girl at first, but it was as clear as the full moon in the night sky above them that Laura was happy to see Carmilla.

“How’s it hanging, Hollis?” She asked while leaning against the opposite railing.

“How do you who I am?” Laura asked. “Why did you barge into my room earlier?”

Carmilla smiled at the human’s tenacity. “If I remember correctly, you invited me in.”

Laura didn’t miss a beat. “Why were you there at all then?”

“Can’t a girl say hi to another girl?”

“Why would you stop to say hello if you don’t even know me?”

Carmilla turned her gaze upward to the starry night. “It’s nice out tonight, don’t you think?”

Laura let out an exasperated sigh. “I get that you have this whole dark and mysterious thing going on, but it’s really annoying.”

“Would you like to be left alone?” Carmilla held her breath as she waited for the answer.

“No.” Laura said after a few moments. “But I would like some answers.”

“Wouldn’t we all.” Carmilla mused.

“Let me guess, you’re a philosophy major?” Laura joked.

“I am.”

“Oh.” Laura fumbled over words. “Oh, um, well…that’s cool. How long have you gone here?”

“Too long.” Carmilla answered, earning an irritated look from Laura. “Since I was your age.”

“How old are you now?” Laura wondered aloud.

“Don’t you know that it’s impolite to ask a well-mannered lady her age?”

“Something tells me that you have no interest in being well-mannered.”

Carmilla smiled. Despite everything telling her not to, she couldn’t help but like Laura. Even with the constant knowledge that the human could whip out a silver dagger and ram it into Carmilla’s skull at any moment, she liked her. “Is that what you’re into? Bad girls?”

“Only if she has a motorcycle.”

“Guess I’d better start saving up for one then.”

Though a blush filled her cheeks, Laura frowned. “Is this…is all this flirting even real?”

“Now who’s getting philosophical?” Carmilla tried to buy herself time. She knew what Laura was asking, but she didn’t know how to answer.

“No, I mean…” Laura ran a hand through her hair. “Why are you interested in me?”

Carmilla had to stop and ponder on the question. Why was she so interested in Laura? The human was a potential expert vampire hunter whom she was inexplicably drawn to. All of the warning signs were there, but she kept ignoring them. Why? What was so special about Laura Hollis that she was willing to risk her own existence just to sit down and have a conversation with her?

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Carmilla said. “You’re different. You’re not like the others.”

Laura fidgeted with her fingers. “The other humans at Silas?”

“I meant all humans.” Carmilla watched her carefully. If Laura suspected that Carmilla was on to her, she might attack.

“Is that really your best pickup line?” Laura grinned.

Amused, Carmilla said, “I don’t need pickup lines to get a girl in bed.”

“Sounds like you have a lot of experience with that sort of thing.” Laura teased.

Carmilla wanted to push the boundaries, to see if Laura’s flirting was all just an act. “If by ‘that sort of thing’ you mean pleasuring ladies so well they forget their own names, then yes. I have plenty of experience with that sort of thing.”

“Pleasuring ladies?” Laura laughed. “Wow, you are pretty old, huh?”

“Someone has to be well-mannered around you foul-mouthed hooligans.” Carmilla moved to sit on the step below Laura, but she moved so quickly that Laura only knew something had happened when the railing they were now both leaning against creaked at the added weight. “Besides, I prefer dirty talk in the bedroom. Saying ‘I want to taste you’ to a girl sounds so much better when she’s begging for it.”

Laura’s pulse raced as she looked down at Carmilla. “Do you mean taste blood or taste…”

Carmilla smirked at the open-ended question. “That’s for the lady to decide.”

A distant scream in the night brought them back to reality.

“What was that?” Laura scrambled to her feet. “Was that a person?”

Carmilla stood and began descending the stairs two at a time. “Go inside and lock your door.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Laura called after her. “Stop! You shouldn’t go alone! What if it’s something dangerous?”

Carmilla threw a peculiar look over her shoulder and stopped only long enough to say, “Laura, I _am_ something dangerous.”

She was off and running without another word. She went through the quad, ran around the Performing Arts building, and finally found the source of the commotion on the all-purpose sports field. In the middle of the dark field was a limp, unmoving body with a gleaming silver arrow protruding from the head. As Carmilla approached the body, she realized she was repeating the words “please not Danny” again and again in her head. The tall ginger annoyed her like no one else, but she was just a baby, she didn’t know any better, and Carmilla felt responsible for her.

Nudging the shoulder with the toe of her boot, Carmilla pushed the body over until a face was visible.

“Jesus Christ.” Carmilla breathed, dropping to her knees in the grass beside her brother’s dead body. She slammed her fist into his chest in anger. “All you had to do was leave it alone, you stupid fucking idiot! Fuck!”

A noise to the left had Carmilla ducking for cover behind Will’s body. She shielded herself just in time that an arrow shot into his back and not her own. She hid, terrified, for several minutes before crawling across the field toward to the cover of metal bleachers, all the while balancing her brother’s stiff corpse on her back.


	3. The Killing Kind

“You said you’d take care of it.” Mattie’s voice was even, calm. And it only made things that much harder.

“I’m sorry.” Carmilla tried to sound like Mattie, but she had never mastered the ability to hide emotions quite like her sister had. Carmilla couldn’t pretend that seeing Will’s unmoving body on the rug didn’t fill her with guilt. She couldn’t act like dragging his corpse across campus hadn’t been one of the most terrifying hours of her existence. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t hide from her feelings.

From her seat on the couch, Mattie sipped at a blood martini. “What’s done is done.”

Danny, who had been frantically pacing in background, walked over with tears still lingering in her eyes. “So what’s the plan? What do we do now? How do we find the person who did this?”

Mattie looked to Carmilla. “That depends on what we know so far.”

Carmilla took a seat in the armchair and tried to look anywhere but at the pair of arrows still lodged into Will’s body. She settled on looking at her knees. The trek from the sports field to Mattie’s office had ruined her pants. She was covered in grass and mud, but that wasn’t nearly as distressing as the large splotch of Will’s blood that had soaked into her shirt.

“Well?” Mattie prompted, pulling Carmilla back to the conversation.

“I know of at least two humans who weren’t near the field when I heard Will scream. Betty and Laura were at the freshman dorm hall. They were my top suspects.” Carmilla explained, feeling as if she were speaking at half speed.

Danny stepped forward, avoiding Will’s body the best she could. “I saw Natalie Truong walk into the library with two of the human boys on my way here from the cafeteria. We can scratch those three off the list of suspects, too.”

Mattie took another sip from her glass before saying, “Find out where the other humans were tonight. Work together. No more wandering off alone. Not until the hunter is stopped.”

“You’re not coming with us?” Danny exclaimed. She pointed to Will. “The killer could still be out there!”

Mattie waited to respond until after she had set down her empty glass. “This may be the first hunter you have encountered during your brief existence in this world, but it certainly won’t be the last. Mother won’t always be around to protect you, Danny, and neither will I. You have to learn how to protect yourself. How to fight for yourself. I wouldn’t send you after a hunter if I didn’t think you were ready.”

“What about Will?” Danny cried. “He knew how to fight, but look what happened to him.”

Mattie stood and smoothed out her skirt. “William was arrogant. He underestimated his enemy. Hunters may be human, but they are trained to kill our kind from the day they can first hold a knife. We kill to eat, but hunters kill for sport. They call it their duty to mankind, but any creature with a few working brain cells can see through their contrived heroism. They kill us for the trophy. For the glory. We are nothing more than fangs to be mounted on a wall to them. William charged into a war without a clue as to who he was fighting. You won’t make the same mistake.”

“So we’re dealing with a crazy human who has been trained their entire life on how to hunt and kill vampires to the point that they believe they’re valiantly murdering us for the benefit of humanity…” Danny threw up her hands in exasperation. “And you want us to just go track this lunatic down? They could be sitting outside this building right now with an arrow aimed at the front door for all we know.”

“Stop whining!” Carmilla shouted. “The hunter is a human. We are vampires. Vampires hunt humans. Someone has to restore the natural balance of the world, and this time it just happens to be us. The longer we sit here, the more time this psycho has to make their next move. And we’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

“You’ll need to change.” Mattie advised, looking over Carmilla’s soiled outfit. “We can’t risk anyone seeing you covered in blood like that. Are you absolutely sure that no one saw you carrying William?”

“Yes.” Carmilla groaned as she began stripping off her clothes. “I’m sure that no one saw me.”

—

“And then I saw her carrying a dead body over her shoulder!” Laura confessed in the quietest voice she could possibly manage whilst freaking out, which admittedly was not very quiet at all.

LaFontaine and Perry pulled Laura further away from the dorm hall. The area was fairly empty, with most students having gone up to their rooms long ago, but neither of the upperclassmen wanted any unwelcome ears overhearing something that they shouldn’t.

“You’re positive it was Carmilla?” Perry asked once they were safely hidden in the decorative shrubbery.

“Yes.” Laura nodded vigorously. Her whole body was bouncing with anxiety. She hadn’t known what to do, but telling someone about what she had seen seemed like the best option at the time. “Like I said, we were sitting on the stairs talking and then there was a scream and she started running toward it and she told me to go inside and lock my door but I followed her.” She paused to catch her breath. “And of course I followed her but she’s really fast, like, _really_ fast and by the time I found her she was crawling out from behind the bleaches down at the sports field with a dead body on her back. It even had arrows sticking out of it!”

“Arrows?” LaFontaine frowned. “What kind of arrows?”

“I don’t know. The killing kind?” Laura felt lightheaded. “Do you think…did she kill someone? Was she taking the body home to eat or drink or tie up in the basement or whatever the hell vampires do to their prey?”

“Vampires have no use for bows and arrows.” LaFontaine was quiet for a moment. “But vampire hunters do.”

Laura threw up a hand to stop LaFontaine. “Wait. So you think that just because Carmilla was toting around a dead body with a couple of arrows sticking out of it, Buffy the vampire slayer is at Silas?”

“Not a slayer, a hunter.” LaFontaine said seriously.

Perry fiddled with her charm bracelet, a nervous habit that Laura had noticed her do a few times before. She’d always meant to ask if the charms had magical properties, but she’d never found the right way to say it without sounding like an ignorant human.

“Oh my.” Perry rolled the charms between her fingers. “This is bad news. This is very bad news. If there truly is a hunter at Silas, the vampires will surely retaliate. Laura, you’ll need to lay low for a while.”

“Me?” Laura gasped. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes, we know, but your kind did.” Perry explained. “Hunters are almost exclusively human. They’ll be coming after all of you looking for the guilty party.”

“But I was with Carmilla when we heard the scream. She has to know that I couldn’t have been involved.” Laura dreaded thinking that anyone, especially Carmilla, would ever suspect that she would be capable of killing someone strictly because of their supernatural status.

“There could be more than one hunter.” LaFontaine pointed out. “You never know.”

Perry placed a comforting hand on Laura’s shoulder. “We need to get you back to your room, where it’s safe.”

—

The door to room 307 in the freshman dorm hall opened and the light flipped on but Carmilla remained seated at the windowsill unmoved. It took Laura Hollis five entire steps into the room before she noticed someone else was already in it. She shrieked, causing the pair of redheaded spellcasters in the doorway to make ungodly sounds as well. Carmilla hopped to her feet, boots heavy against the wood floor, and shut the door in their faces before either ginger could get in a word of protest. She turned on her heel, walked right up to the human, and grabbed Laura by the collar of her shirt.

“I know that you followed me.” Carmilla snarled through gritted teeth. She was doing everything in her power to seem as menacing as possible. She didn’t just want to scare Laura, she wanted to terrify the poor girl.

“I won’t tell anyone!” Laura promised, her hands feebly trying to release Carmilla’s grip.

Carmilla used her free hand to point at the door. “You already did.”

Laura paused in her struggling. “Okay, well, I won’t tell anyone else?”

Carmilla let go of Laura’s shirt and took a step back. Being so close to Laura had left her feeling dizzy. She cleared her dry throat before saying, “You’re lucky there are three witnesses on the other side of that door.”

Laura stumbled backward until the backs of her knees hit the bed. “Three?”

Carmilla crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you really think that I was going to just leave those chatty idiots unsupervised? Danny is keeping an eye on them.”

“Oh.” Laura took in a deep, calming breath before continuing. “Okay, so, how did you get into my room? _Why_ are you in my room? Whose body were you carrying?”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for questions, but she needed to make certain that Laura would keep things quiet. “The window was unlocked. To talk. My brother’s.”

She blinked. “Your brother?”

“Yes, my brother Will. Any more questions?”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Laura’s hand moved to cover her heart, and again Carmilla wondered if the reaction was intentional. “Were you close?”

“No. I hated him.” Carmilla shrugged. “Honestly, we’re all better off without him.”

Laura shook her head in disbelief. “You don’t even care that your brother just died?”

“I have bigger concerns.” Carmilla glanced out the window. For a moment she thought she saw a figure watching her but it was gone before she could get a better look. She drew the curtain down just to be safe.

“Who killed him?” Laura asked quietly. “Was it a vampire hunter?”

Carmilla stared at Laura for a long time before she could answer. “Yes, it was.”

Laura watched her closely. “Do you know who it is?”

Distracted by Laura’s rapid heartbeat, Carmilla nearly missed the question altogether. “Not yet.”

Laura hesitated before saying, “I can help you find them. I can talk to the other humans and see if any of them act weird. They’ll tell me things that they would never tell you. I want to help.”

“Why would you do that?” Carmilla narrowed her gaze, suspicious. “Why would you betray your own people?”

“If someone is going around killing vampires just because they’re vampires…that’s not someone I want as my people.” Laura stepped closer. “And I don’t want you to end up like your brother.”

“You don’t even know me.” Carmilla reminded her.

“Sure I do.” A small grin pulled at the corners of her lips. “You’re the well-mannered old lady who keeps popping up in my room.”

Despite the long night of horrors, and the dreadful disappointment she’d felt in delivering Will’s body to Mattie, and the anger she’d felt at herself for walking into an open field with an expert archer on the loose, Carmilla smiled. Laura seemed to have that baffling effect on her.

“I hope you’ll accept my apologies for not waiting to be invited in first.” Carmilla teased.

“You’re never going to let that one go, are you?” Laura asked with a smile.

“Never.” She paused. “Would you even have invited me in?”

A hint of a blush touched Laura’s cheeks. “At this late hour? You’d have to buy me dinner first.”

Carmilla raised a challenging brow. “That can be arranged.”

Laura opened her mouth to reply, but a loud knock on the door stopped her. From the other side, Danny’s voice yelled out, “You can seduce each other later, let’s go!”

Carmilla pointed to the door with her thumb. “I’ve got a hunter to find.” She said, turning to leave.

When Carmilla opened the door, the three redheads on the other side hastily pretended like they hadn’t all just been intently listening to what was said in the room. They scattered, with LaFontaine and Perry bumping into each other as they retreated off to the left and with Danny backing up to give Carmilla enough space to make her exit. Without even acknowledging each other, the vampires headed down the hallway in silent unison.

Quickly, Laura rushed to the doorway and called after Carmilla, “Be careful out there. Don’t forget, you owe me dinner.”

Carmilla flipped around so that she was walking backwards, never breaking her stride. She smirked. “Don’t be so dramatic, Hollis.” And with that, Carmilla and Danny turned the corner and descended the stairs.

Danny gave her a disapproving look, but Carmilla couldn’t care less about Danny’s opinion on a good day let alone a day like this one.

“Mind your own business.” Carmilla warned her.

“We’re supposed to be looking for a killer, not trying to get you laid.” Danny huffed.

“I clearly don’t need your help in that department.” Carmilla replied, a little too smug.

Danny sighed. “You better hope that getting lucky doesn’t turn into getting tied up and tortured.”

“Laura isn’t the hunter.” Carmilla said as she pushed open the heavy fire escape doors with ease.

“We don’t know that for sure.” Danny lowered her voice. “We have to double check everything. She could be luring you into a trap.”

“Could you just relax for like one second? One! That’s all I’m asking for.” The words had just left Carmilla’s mouth when she recognized the all too familiar whisper of an arrow shooting toward them in the night.


	4. A 'Wolves Only' Shindig

Laura stood outside her Intro to Supernatural Evolution class, anxiously swaying back and forth. She was exhausted, having spent the majority of the previous night researching the history of vampire hunters on the Internet. The only things keeping her standing were copious amounts of caffeine and the hour’s worth of sleep she’d managed to get.

Vampire hunters, as it turned out, were notoriously hard to study. They lived in secrecy, working as a kind of underground cult hidden away from the rest of human society. Hunters didn’t get serious about their craft until the Middle Ages, when the vampires were at their highest global population, but professional hunters could be dated back as far as Ancient Greece. They favored silver weapons over other killing techniques, though there once was a team of hunters in Brazil who used a specialized form of colloidal silver as a poison.

With a minute to spare, Danny Lawrence, the very person Laura had been waiting on, appeared at the end of the hall looking as tired as Laura felt.

“Hi, Danny.” Laura greeted nervously. She had never actually spoken to the TA before, but considering the events of the previous twelve hours, Laura felt that it probably wasn’t too much to ask for a word with her.

“Laura.” Danny nodded in acknowledgement, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.

“How did…” Laura struggled to find the right words. “How did everything go last night? After you guys left my room, I mean.”

Danny carefully adjusted the collection of folders and loose papers in her arms. “Laura, I know you want to help, but you have to understand that your eagerness to get involved is a little suspicious. We don’t know you, and you don’t know us. This time yesterday, you’d never even spoken to Carmilla before.”

Laura backpedaled, trying to figure out if Danny was right. “I mean, well, okay, you’re right, but everything just happened so fast. The past twenty-four hours have been really crazy.”

“People are dying.” Danny said somberly. “People like me. And we’re being killed by someone like you. We can’t risk trusting the wrong person.”

Laura pulled at the straps of her backpack. “What can I do to prove that I’m trying to help?”

Abruptly, Danny straightened up and pursed her lips. Laura turned, trying to find what Danny had seen, and came face to face with the daunting Professor Belmonde.

“Running a little late, Miss Hollis?” She smiled.

“Oh, sorry.” Laura muttered, ducking her head and rushing into the classroom. She knew that Danny and Professor Belmonde were not literally Carmilla’s sisters, but they were no doubt the closest thing to family that the vampire had. Laura wanted to help them, but she didn’t want to pry her way into their lives either. Meddling in things that she should’ve stayed out of was an unfortunate talent of hers.

Taking a seat between Sarah Jane and Betty, Laura used the most of what little time she had. “Hey, so, did either of you hear that screaming last night?”

“What screaming?” The girls asked in accidental unison.

“Oh, I thought for sure the whole campus would’ve been able to hear it.” Laura did her best to keep an eye on both of their expressions, but looking back and forth so much made her head dizzy.

“It was probably just the Zetas doing their ritual pledge hazing in the woods.” Sarah Jane suggested with a shrug.

Laura watched from the corner of her eye as Danny and Professor Belmonde entered the classroom. “I thought fraternities and sororities weren’t allowed to haze people anymore?”

Sarah Jane laughed. “Chill, Laura. All they do is make the pledges go hunt in the woods for an hour. Whoever brings back the smallest animal has to streak across campus. You’ve never heard about that tradition? My dad was the streaker his freshman year.”

“Settle down!” Professor Belmonde shouted, resulting in an immediate silence filling in the room. “Thank you. Now, let’s pick up where we left off last time. Who can tell me the biological classification of the common dragon?”

—

Carmilla paced the length of the room with her thoughts in a blur. She’d spent the whole night and all morning running around trying to piece everything together. The door creaked open and Laura entered, not looking the least bit surprised to see Carmilla already inside.

“Man, I really need to start locking that window.” Laura joked, shutting the door with her foot. Her smile fell when she noticed the large bandage on Carmilla’s bicep. “What happened? Did you get hit with an arrow? Are you okay?”

Carmilla stopped and looked at the bandage, tenderly brushing over it with her fingers. It still hurt like hell, but she wasn’t about to tell Laura that. “It’s nothing. It just grazed me. Barely felt a thing.”

“So what happened last night?” Laura asked as she tossed her backpack to the side.

Carmilla sighed. “The hunter was waiting for us when we left here. We tried to chase after them but we couldn’t find the scent fast enough. They’re using something to cover their tracks. After that, we searched the campus for the other humans. Natalie and two of the boys were in the library the whole night. We have a witness who placed Elsie at the Summer Society mixer. You, Betty, and the other three male humans—I really need to learn their names—were in your rooms. Which means we’re left with one human unaccounted for.”

“Sarah Jane.” Laura gasped. “No, it can’t be her. She’s so nice.”

“Nice to you, perhaps.” Carmilla sneered. “I’m not saying it’s her, I’m just saying we don’t know where she was last night.”

“I can ask.” Laura suggested. “In class earlier she mentioned something about the traditional Zeta pledge hazing in the woods or whatever. I can ask if she went to it.”

“She couldn’t have been there. It’s a ‘wolves only’ shindig.” Carmilla resumed her pacing.

Laura tried to stifle her giggle. “Shindig? You are so aging yourself right now.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes but a grin still crept its way on to her lips. “If we weren’t in the middle of a crisis, I would make you pay for that one.”

Laura put her hands up in mock surrender. “You’re right, you’re right. I should really learn to respect my elders.”

In the blink of an eye, Carmilla had pushed Laura to the bed and was hovering over her. “I wouldn’t make any more wisecracks if I were you. Vampires are known for their quick tempers.”

Laura gulped. The blood pumping through her veins smelled so sweet that it made Carmilla’s throat burn with thirst. “You said you’d only bite if I asked you to.”

Carmilla smirked at the girl beneath her. “Oh, you’ll be asking for it alright. That’s the part I’m going to enjoy the most.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. You still have to buy me dinner.” There was a twinkle in Laura’s eye that gave Carmilla butterflies. Everything about the girl, from her unwavering desire to help to her quick wit, Carmilla found utterly endearing. Laura intrigued her like no one ever had. There she was, a tiny human at the complete mercy of a vampire, yet she smiled and joked without a care.

“I haven’t forgotten.” Carmilla promised. “But I’m afraid romance will have to wait. Someone keeps trying to kill me and I’d like for them stop.”

“Completely understandable.” Laura glanced to Carmilla’s lips. The urge to close the gap between them was incredibly strong. “So what can I do to help?”

Carmilla pushed herself away, finding it hard to get her mind back on track. “Do like you said, ask around. Just don’t draw too much attention to yourself.”

“What will you do?” Laura asked, reclining on her elbows with her hair in a mess. Seeing Laura in that pose nearly drove Carmilla back on top of her.

“I’ve got a little sister to babysit.” Carmilla shrugged. “And a vampire hunter to find.”

—

Tired and stressed, Laura dropped down onto her chair at the cafeteria table much harder than she had anticipated.

“You okay, Frosh?” LaFontaine asked in-between bites of macaroni and cheese.

“I’m fine.” Laura pointed to the empty seat beside LaFontaine with her fork. “Where’s Perry?”

“Her Properties of Potent Potions lab probably ran late.” They guessed. “The instructor for that one likes to hear himself talk. He’s a great wizard, just a bad teacher. He kind of reminds me of Merlin. Now there’s a guy who never knew when to end a sentence. His books are ridiculously long. Informative, of course, but he tended to go off on a lot of tangents on how squirrels were demonic and untrustworthy.”

“He may have been on to something there.” Laura said before two large bodies sat down on either side of her at the table.

“Hey little hottie.” The one on the left greeted with a goofy smile. 

“Wilson, leave the girl alone.” The one on the right advised with an authoritative tone.

LaFontaine looked at the two newcomers. “Hey, Kirsch. Hey, Theo. How was the pledge hunt?”

“Awesome!” Kirsch pumped a first into the air. “This year’s streaker couldn’t even catch a squirrel.”

Laura took a sip from her cup of chocolate milk. “Didn’t you hear? Squirrels are demonic and untrustworthy.”

“Oh man.” Kirsch’s face fell. “That makes, like, total sense.”

LaFontaine dropped their spoon into the empty bowl in front of them. “So to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Theo placed his elbows on the table and leaned in. “We’ve just heard the news about the three dead vampires.”

Laura choked on her water and fell into a coughing fit. In the attempt to help, Kirsch softly patted her back.

“What are you doing?” Laura asked him after finally clearing her airway.

He retracted his hand so fast that she would’ve thought something bit him. “Oh, sorry, girl-bro. I thought that’s what they do in the movies when someone is choking?”

Theo dropped his face into the palm of his hand. “Patting on the back like that is what you do to make babies burp, Wilson. You do the Heimlich maneuver when someone is choking.”

“Oh.” Kirsch stared at his hand for a moment before glancing to Laura. “Did I make you burp?”

“Enough nonsense.” Theo barked, turning his attention back to LaFontaine. “Like I was saying, we heard about the dead bloodsuckers.”

“Okay.” LaFontaine shrugged. “So why come to me about it?”

Kirsch jumped in. “You’re friends with the tall hottie, Danny Lawrence, so we thought you might know more about it.”

LaFontaine gave Laura a worried look. “I highly doubt that I have more information than anyone else.”

“Try us.” Theo grinned. Something about him didn’t sit well with Laura, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

A shadow fell on the table, and the four occupants turned to see the silhouettes of Carmilla and Danny standing in front of the window. The setting sun behind them outlined the two vampires with an angelic golden glow.

“I didn’t realize we’d stumbled into the doghouse.” Carmilla snickered.

Theo forced a polite smile. “You wouldn’t last a day in our house, sweetheart.”

Carmilla put her palms on the table and leaned into them. “Kirsch, be a good boy and take Fido here for a walk, would you?”

Theo sucked at his teeth. “Say, how’s your brother feeling? Not too well, I’d expect.”

Danny stabbed her finger into Theo’s chest. She towered over the sitting boy, but he showed no signs of fear. “Show some respect.”

“Respect?” Theo chuckled. “Your brother never gave us respect, why should we show any to him? If you ask me, the world could use a few less glorified leeches in it anyway.”

“Dudes, stop the fighting!” Kirsch shouted, catching the attention of everyone in the cafeteria. With all eyes on them, both the werewolves and the vampires knew that this argument could go no further. Not for now, at least.

Theo stood, motioning for Kirsch to stand as well. He tipped an invisible hat to the vampires. “Until next time.”

The werewolves left, and soon the cafeteria returned to its normal chatter. Carmilla took one of the freed seats beside Laura while Danny opted to remain standing.

“What did they want?” Carmilla asked, keeping a watchful eye on the boys as they walked away.

“They were asking about the dead vampires.” LaFontaine answered. They looked a shade paler than normal. Confrontation, Laura guessed, wasn’t one of their strongest attributes.

Danny groaned. “How did people find out about that already?”

LaFontaine said, “Silas does love its gossip. Not to say that the murders of three innocent vampires should be thought of as merely gossip, I only meant to say—“

Carmilla cut in, “Calm down, Harry Potter. We know what you meant.”

Laura perked up. “You know, I’ve always wondered if Harry Potter was based on a real person.”

Carmilla lowered her voice. “You do know that Hogwarts isn’t real, right? Those books were written by a human.”

“But how do you know she’s a human?” Laura challenged.

“What? No, we can talk about this later.” Carmilla waved it away. “We have an update on the hunter.”

“What did you find out?” Laura asked.

“Sarah Jane is in the clear.” Danny answered before Carmilla could. “Her alibi checks out. She was off campus last night, down at the village where plenty of people saw her dancing on tables at the local bar.”

“Does that mean the hunter isn’t a student?” Laura fought the sudden urge to reach for Carmilla’s hand under the table.

“Not necessarily.” Carmilla grumbled. “We’ve been assuming there’s only one hunter but there’s no reason why there can’t be more than one of those shit stains running around here. We need more clues, but more than that we need to catch the hunter in the act.”

“So let’s set a trap.” Laura suggested. “We could go somewhere out in the open and you could pretend to attack me. We could all ambush the hunter when they try to save me. It’d be five against one, or five against two. Either way we’d still have the upper hand.”

“Five?” LaFontaine questioned with big eyes.

“Yeah.” Laura nodded. “Me, you, Perry, Carmilla, and Danny.”

“I’m all for it.” Danny said before turning to Carmilla. “What do you think?”

Carmilla took her time in mulling it over. “I’m not crazy about using myself as bait, but it’s not like we’ve thought of anything better.”

“Mattie won’t like it.” Danny pointed out.

Carmilla scoffed. “Mattie’s the one making us deal with this crap on our own. If she doesn’t like it, she can do it herself.”

“So it’s settled then?” Danny looked around. “We’re doing this tonight?”

“Tonight?” LaFontaine surprisingly grew a shade even paler. “I don’t know…Perry and I had plans to—“

Again, Carmilla interrupted, “Are your plans really more important than catching a killer?”

“Of course not!” LaFontaine tried to find a way to climb out of the hole they’d fallen into. “Yes, we will be there. Tonight. I’ll talk to Perry. We’ll come prepared. Where are we going exactly?”

“The sports field.” Carmilla answered solemnly. “Where I found Will. It’s the only place around campus with enough open space. If the hunter runs on to the field to save Laura, we’ll all have a good shot at them. Danny, you can use the spellcasters as a shield the same way I’ll use Laura.”

Despite the plan being her idea, Laura cringed at the thought of becoming human armor. “Are we sure the hunter only wants to kill vampires? I’d rather not end up as a crazy vampire hunter’s justified sacrifice on my third day in college.”

“A hunter wouldn’t kill a human.” Carmilla assured her. “That would defeat their entire purpose. They think they’re humanity’s secret saviors. Besides, even if they tried, I’d never let that happen.”

Danny rolled her eyes. “LaFontaine, do you know any spells or potions or anything else that could help?”

LaFontaine shrugged. “Possibly. Magic is hard to control, even unpredictable at times, but if Perry and I work together we might be able to come up with something useful.”

“Alright, we have a plan.” Danny glanced around. “Now let’s split up before the hunter catches us plotting their demise.”

—

Carmilla felt ridiculous sitting in the middle of an open field with Laura in her lap and nothing but a stolen sheet of chainmail inside a backpack to guard her back. She pulled the hood of her jacket closer around her face.

“Are you comfortable?” Laura asked. Her voice was even, but her racing heart gave her nerves away.

“I’ve got a beautiful girl pressed against me so, yes, I’m pretty comfortable.” Carmilla tried her best to lighten the mood.

Laura leaned into her more. “If the arrow were a regular one, instead of silver, would it still kill you?”

Carmilla wrapped her arms around Laura’s waist, enjoying the small gasp she made. “Typically not. I’ve survived regular arrows to the chest before. It’s the silver ones that are questionable. Silver reacts differently in a vampire’s body. The one that scratched me last night, it wasn’t enough to kill me, but if it had hit a major artery or an organ…I would’ve dropped right then and there.”

“And you call me dramatic.” Laura teased.

Preparing for their charade, Carmilla pressed her lips to the side of Laura’s neck. “Don’t make me accidentally bite you.”

“You won’t bite me.” Laura said with confidence. How a human she’d spoken to only a handful of times could be so sure of Carmilla, so unreservedly trusting, was beyond her.

“And what makes you think that?” Carmilla hummed against her skin.

Laura bit her bottom lip. “Because I haven’t asked you to yet.”

“If we weren’t sitting ducks right now…” Carmilla held her breath.

“Save it for later.” Laura squeezed her arm. “We’ve got a show to put on.”

A magical red flare shot into the sky from where LaFontaine, Perry, and Danny were hidden inside the forest.

“And there’s our cue.” Laura took a few deep breaths. “Okay. I’m going to start screaming and fake struggling. Are you ready?”

Carmilla braced herself. “Ready when you are, cupcake.”

—

Much to the misfortune of her vocal chords, Laura severely underestimated how long it would take for a vampire hunter to come running to the aid of a girl screaming her head off in the middle of an all-purpose sports field. Her throat was burning by the time a second red flare blinked in the night.

“They’re close.” Carmilla whispered against Laura’s neck. “Red means Danny can smell them.”

Laura knew that was the signal to kick it up a notch. “Help!” She screamed. “Please! Help me!”

“Let the human go!” A voice bellowed into the night.

Laura and Carmilla froze, neither having expected the hunter to speak rather than act. Carmilla ducked her head further behind Laura’s back.

“Why don’t you come out here and make me!” Carmilla shouted.

They waited several silent moments until a cloaked figure slowly emerged from the forest’s edge near the metal bleachers. The figure had their bowstring pulled back, with a shiny silver arrow prepped and aimed directly at Laura and Carmilla.

“I said let the human go.” They demanded once more. Laura couldn’t recognize the hunter’s voice, and she definitely couldn’t recognize their hooded face from such a distance in the dark.

“Please.” Laura used every ounce of willpower she had to keep up the act. “Help me!”

As the hunter cautiously approached, Carmilla’s grip around Laura’s waist tightened protectively.

“I’m giving you one last chance.” The hunter warned. “Let her go.”

A turquoise flare shot into the sky, much closer than the red ones had been, followed by a flash of yellow light that enveloped the hunter. Carmilla hastily fell to her side with Laura still securely wrapped in her arms, successfully dodging the arrow released by the hunter’s sudden lack of consciousness as it flew over their heads.

Carmilla released her hold on Laura and helped the girl to her feet. Brushing themselves off, they guardedly walked over to where the sleeping hunter hit the ground. LaFontaine, Perry, and Danny quickly joined them.

“Who is it?” Danny asked while the spellcasters stopped to catch their breath. Keeping up with a vampire’s pace was hard work, Laura knew that from experience.

Carmilla leaned down and pulled the hunter’s hood back, revealing the peacefully sleeping face of a girl Laura had never seen before.

“Who the fuck is that?” Carmilla growled.

“Her name is Mel.” Danny dropped down to scoop up the bow and quiver full of sharp silver arrows. “She’s vice president of the Summer Society.”

“A Summer?” Perry gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. “That can’t be! Why would a werewolf act as a vampire hunter?"

“I don’t know.” Carmilla grabbed Mel’s arms and slung the girl’s body over her shoulder, carrying the weight with ease. “But we’re going to find out.”


	5. A Perfect Catch

To say that Laura felt uncomfortable inside Professor Belmonde’s office with a dead vampire boy’s body on the rug beside a werewolf tied to a chair, would have been a bit of an understatement. Sandwiched between LaFontaine and Perry on the couch, Laura was shaking with anxiety as the angry vampires took turns yelling at the werewolf Melanippe Callis. To make things worse, the captured Summer Society vice president was being stubbornly calm about the whole situation.

“I already told you…” Mel looked around the room at everyone present before going on. “A dozen silver arrows and an anonymous letter showed up in my room on the first day of classes. _Anonymous_ means I don’t know who put them there. Now, you can keep asking me that same question over and over again, or we can move on and speed up this little interrogation party.”

“You want to speed things up?” Danny’s hands balled into fists. “Why don’t we just skip all this chitchat and get to the real fun, huh? How about we carve you up like a pumpkin and see what you have to say then.”

“Step away.” Professor Belmonde’s command was quiet, but it was enough to have Danny backing away from Mel without an objection.

Mel smiled. “That’s right. Listen to your alpha, Lawrence.”

Professor Belmonde clasped her hands together, much as she did in class whenever she was about annihilate a student for making an inappropriate comment. “Miss Callis, if I wasn’t absolutely certain that it would result in another dead student for this university, I would gladly take you to meet a real vampire alpha.”

Mel scoffed. “You bloodsuckers are going to kill me either way, so why not let me see what that big bad mysterious Dean is capable of?”

“You won’t be dying here tonight, young wolf.” Professor Belmonde replied, almost disappointed. “Silas has had enough death for one week.”

“So, what, I’m just going to live in the basement for the rest of my life?” Mel laughed through her fear as the façade finally began to crack. “Am I going to be the new communal blood bag?”

“Cut the crap, Callis.” Carmilla crossed her arms. It was the first time she’d spoken since they’d all arrived. “You’re holding out on us and we know it.”

Mel sighed dramatically. “I told you everything already. You want to hear it again? Fine! Monday morning I found a letter in my room next to twelve silver arrows. The letter said there was one arrow for each vampire on campus. Whoever wrote it, and again I’ll point out that _I don’t know who that is_ , said that I could either hunt or be hunted. They threatened my pack...” She stopped for a moment. “I may not be an alpha, but I would do anything for my pack. Taking out a few oversized leeches wasn’t a hard compromise to make.”

Danny scoffed from the corner. “One unsigned letter was all it took to scare you into murdering people?”

“Vampires.” Mel corrected. “The only _people_ besides me in this room are the ones sitting on that couch.”

LaFontaine, Perry, and Laura nervously shifted under the unwanted attention.

“You’re wrong.” Laura knew that speaking up in the middle of such a heated situation probably wasn’t the smartest move, but she couldn’t let Mel talk about the vampires that way. “Vampires are people just like the rest of us.”

Mel shook her head, bewildered. “This is exactly why they never should’ve let humans into Silas. You are all so gullible! Just because a vamp bats her pretty eyelashes at you and makes you feel special, doesn’t mean she won’t still kill you when she feels like it. Don’t you get it? She’s using you! They’re all using you! Look what you did for them tonight. You willingly acted as a vampire’s body armor. You drank the Kool-Aid, you bought into the dream, but eventually you’re going to have to realize that these monsters aren’t your friends. They’re just stringing you along until you aren’t useful to them anymore.”

“It was my plan that caught you.” Laura fired back.

Mel ignored Laura’s comment and turned her attention to LaFontaine and Perry. “And isn’t this an interesting turn of events? Two spellcasters hanging around a bunch of vampires and a foolish love-struck human. Are they playing with your heads too? Did Lawrence promise one of you a little kiss if you knocked me out with a spell? Or maybe it was Carmilla. She’s been handling the human so well, she probably had a bit of free time to sneak off with one of you. Hell, maybe even both of you. It’s not like she has standards.”

“Watch your mouth!” Danny shouted. It was clear that the TA was using every fiber of her shrinking willpower to not launch herself at Mel.

“Ah.” Mel smiled. “So it was you, Lawrence, wasn’t it? You were the one reeling in the magicfolk while Carmilla was putting a leash on her pet human.”

Before Laura knew what was happening, she was up and on her feet. “No one forced us to be here. We helped the vampires because we wanted to. Because we knew it was the right thing to do. We weren’t going to just sit by and do nothing while you killed innocent people.”

Mel threw her head back with an exaggerated cackle. “You’re joking right? Vampires are not innocent! They are created in death. They are the devil’s children walking amongst the living.” She paused to look directly at Carmilla. “They have no souls.”

—

“So what happens to Mel now?” Laura asked, wrapping her arms around herself as the cool night breeze picked up around them.

“Mattie hasn’t decided yet.” Carmilla said, shrugging out of her jacket and offering it to the shivering girl.

“Thanks.” Laura took the jacket into her hands, stared at it for a moment, and finally put it on. “Do you believe what Mel said?”

“Which part?” Carmilla asked as they continued walking down the pathway from Mattie’s office to the dorm halls.

“All of it.” Laura answered quietly.

Carmilla mulled it over. “I think she’s right about not being the mastermind, but she still knows more than she’s telling. Mattie will get the rest out of her, though. She can be very persuasive when she needs to be.”

“I don’t get it.” Laura confessed. “Why didn’t Mel tell anyone about the letter? Why didn’t she warn her pack about it? I don’t understand how massacring people could be seen as an easy way out.”

“Maybe she did tell them.” Carmilla tried to remain expressionless. She didn’t want Laura to know just how much the situation truly bothered her. “Maybe her pack of mutts encouraged her to do as the letter instructed.”

Laura shoved her hands into the pockets of Carmilla’s jacket. “Why do you guys and the werewolves hate each other so much? Isn’t that a little cliché? I mean, come on, even human fantasy novels have vampires and werewolves at war with each other.”

“You heard what that one had to say.” She replied. “This so-called war goes back thousands of years, probably even to the rise of the first vampires. They think of us as bloodthirsty demons sent back from Hell to roam the Earth for all eternity. It’s all a bunch of religious propaganda used to justify their overly territorial behavior. They preach that crap to their pups before they can even bark.”

Laura stopped under a lamppost, the light of which showered them in an orange glow. Laura looked so beautiful that Carmilla almost missed what she said next.

“Do all werewolves think like that?” Laura asked.

“No, it’s actually pretty rare nowadays to find one as adamantly anti-vampire as Mel.” Carmilla struggled to keep herself present in the conversation. She was exhausted, but she didn’t want Laura to know in fear that the human would send her off to bed. Carmilla wasn’t ready to say goodnight. Not yet.

“Who do you think left her that letter?” Laura questioned. “Whatever it said, it scared her enough to go on a murder spree to protect her pack.”

“I don’t know.” Carmilla slipped a glance down to Laura’s lips. “But I wouldn’t worry about them too much. Clearly they’d rather have a minion do the dirty work than do it on their own.”

Laura surveyed their surroundings. “It still feels like someone is out there watching us. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to sleep all alone tonight.”

Carmilla couldn’t resist. “Is that an invitation?”

A smile formed at the corner of Laura’s mouth. “You’re incredible, you know that? Here I am talking about how scared I am, and you’re over there plotting you’re way into my bed.”

“It sounds bad when you say it like that.”

“How would you say it then?”

“If you invite me in, then you won’t be alone. If you’re not alone, you’ll be able to get some sleep. It’s as simple as that.”

With her smile still in place, Laura asked, “I thought you said that you didn’t have to be invited in to go into someone’s room?”

“I don’t.” Carmilla shrugged. “I just like hearing you say that you want me there.”

“I do.” Laura replied sheepishly. “I mean, I do want you there. But don’t you think…isn’t this moving a little fast?”

“Time is an illusion.” Carmilla deadpanned.

Laura threw her hand up. “And this is what I get for hanging around a philosophy major.”

“What are you majoring in?” Carmilla asked, suddenly realizing that she didn’t know.

“Journalism.” Laura paused, as if expecting Carmilla to make a snarky comment on her chosen field of study. “My real goal is to someday create a visual news program that caters to the supernaturally aware, gifted and non-gifted. Newspapers are great, but it’s the twenty-first century. It’s time for global supernatural news to be accessible in digital spaces, and I really want to help pioneer that. There are too many people out there living in the dark. They need to really know what’s going on in the world. Maybe it could even help sort out some these prejudices.”

Carmilla wasn’t surprised in the least. Of course Laura Hollis, the human wonder, would strive to do something so innovative and bold.

“Does your family support those dreams?” She asked.

The look on Laura’s face was one that Carmilla recognized all too well. She saw the same expression reflected back at her in the mirror each time she thought of her own parents.

“My dad is very supportive.” Laura nodded. “I could pick up trash on the side of the highway for a living and he’d still love me just the same.”

“And your mother?” Carmilla knew that she was tiptoeing the line between friendly conversation and unwelcome prying.

“She died when I was little.” Laura said with an even tone. “I don’t really remember that much of her. It’s like the more time that goes by, the more things I forget.”

“I know the feeling.” Carmilla admitted quietly. “It’s been so long since I last saw either of my parents alive that I can’t even picture their faces anymore. I often wonder if the few memories I still have are even real or if I dreamed them.” She hesitated. “Mattie’s the only other person I’ve ever talked about them to.”

“You can tell me anything.” Laura promised. “Your secrets are safe with me.”

“Do you want to hear another secret?” Carmilla asked with a sly smile.

“Yes?” Laura said, affably suspicious.

Carmilla took a step closer, leaving little more than breathing room between them, causing Laura’s back to press against the lamppost. “A secret for a secret. Deal?”

Laura’s pulse spiked. “Deal.”

Carmilla tilted her head and leaned down to gently trail the tip of her nose up the side of Laura’s neck. “The way you smell drives me crazy.”

Laura’s hands fell from the jacket pockets, with one moving behind her to grip the lamppost for support and the other finding a place on Carmilla’s shoulder.

“Your turn.” Carmilla whispered, her lips brushing against Laura’s ear.

“My secret…” Laura swallowed hard. “Is that I really want to invite you up to my room.”

Carmilla groaned. “But?”

“But I can’t let you in.” Laura finished, a pained look on her face. “Not tonight. I really like the way things are going, and I _really_ like you, but everything is happening so fast. I’ve only known you for a few days, and like two hours ago we were almost impaled by an arrow that could’ve killed you, and then there was everything that happened with Mel…I just…I’m not ready yet. I need more time to mentally catch up to everything that’s going on.”

“Okay.” Carmilla accepted.

Laura stammered out, “It has nothing to do with you or—“

“Hey.” Carmilla interrupted with a small smile. “You don’t have to say anything else, creampuff. Besides, I know it has nothing to do with me. How could it? I’m a perfect catch.”

Laura smiled so bright that Carmilla may as well have been watching the sunrise. “I can’t believe I was ever afraid of such a big softie.”

“Softie?” Carmilla raised a questioning brow. “Who do I have to kill to get such a disgusting word permanently removed from existence?”

Laura wrapped both arms around Carmilla’s neck, her back still pressed against the lamppost. “You’re a big softie and you know it.”

“Say that one more time, Hollis. I dare you.” Carmilla challenged, enjoying every second of their banter.

“Or you’ll do what?” Laura smirked. “Bite me?”

“Is that a request?” Carmilla asked as she moved her hands to Laura’s hips.

As if suddenly remembering where they were, Laura said, “You know, anyone could be watching us right now and we wouldn’t even know it.”

Carmilla couldn’t keep her eyes off Laura’s lips. She was mesmerized by how they formed words. By how soft they looked. Like they were begging to be kissed. “Isn’t that all part of the fun? Or are you scared?”

“I’m not scared.” Laura replied, her tone taking on a more serious edge. “Not with you here.”

“You shouldn’t say things like that to a soulless monster.” Carmilla said inscrutably. “It might start to care for you.”

Laura shrugged. “I think it already has.”

“If you were anyone else, I’d deny that.” She confessed.

Laura's gaze dropped to Carmilla’s lips for the briefest of moments. “You know you’re not a soulless monster, right?”

“Sometimes I wonder.” Carmilla answered, intentionally making it difficult for Laura to discern if she was being serious or not.

“Well, you shouldn’t.” Laura glanced to her lips again, lingering a little longer this time. “I know you have a soul.”

“How can you be so sure?” Carmilla was surprised to hear so much honest intrigue in her own voice.

“I may not know you very well yet…” Laura bit her bottom lip. “But I know we have a connection that neither of us can shake. As silly as it may sound, I feel that in _my_ soul.”

“Are you calling us soulmates?” Carmilla teased.

“No, I-I just…” Laura grew flustered. “I don’t know what I’m calling it. I just know that I’m feeling it. Aren’t you?”

Carmilla waited for Laura’s heart to stop racing before she replied, “I’ve never felt so drawn to another person in my entire existence, if that answers your question.”

“I really want to kiss you right now.” Laura whispered.

“What’s stopping you?” Carmilla asked, having trouble finding a good enough reason herself.

“It’s not the right time.” Laura answered. “And you still haven’t bought me that dinner, remember?”

“Just give me a day and a time.” Carmilla replied. “And I’ll make it happen.”

“I’ll let you know.” Laura let her arms fall from around Carmilla’s neck, and the vampire took the cue to release her hold on Laura’s hips. Separated, they continued walking side by side on the pathway. After a few quiet moments, Laura asked, “What’s going to happen now? You can’t keep Mel tied up forever, and there’s still the anonymous letter writer out there somewhere.”

Carmilla stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the freshman dorm hall. “Mattie will let her go eventually. She’ll probably find a way to blackmail the wolf into leading us to the mastermind behind everything. If not, whoever it is will slip up. They always do.”

Laura began ascending the stairs but stopped halfway when she realized Carmilla hadn’t followed her. She started to say something, but Carmilla beat her to it.

“I need to know that you don’t believe those things Mel said.” Carmilla told her. “I would never use you.”

“I know. She was just trying to get to me because she was scared.” Laura nodded. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You can see me whenever you want, cupcake.” Carmilla smirked. “Speaking of which, have fun dreaming about me tonight.”

“Oh, whatever.” Laura laughed, still in Carmilla's jacket. “Go fly back to your stuffy coffin bed in your secret dungeon lair.”

“Goodnight, Laura.” Carmilla said sincerely. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Carm.” Laura called back. “And I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Carmilla waited to leave until after Laura had made it safely inside the dorm hall. She’d never tell another soul, but standing there at the steps where they’d first laid eyes on each other, Carmilla knew that she was absolutely smitten with Laura Hollis and there was nothing that she could do about it.


	6. The Alpha

Laura awoke to the sound of insistent knocking at her door. Nearly falling out of her bed, she stumbled her way over to the door and pulled it open to reveal LaFontaine and Perry. The pair of redheads ushered their way into the room without waiting to be invited in.

“By all means, come on in.” Laura said with a yawn as she shut the door. She dropped the sarcasm upon noticing the matching looks of distress on their faces. “What happened?”

“Nothing’s happened.” Perry assured her. “We came to discuss last night’s events. We fear…well, we fear that once the Zetas and the Summers get wind of Mel’s imprisonment, a war will erupt between the werewolves and the vampires. We’re afraid everyone will think we’ve chosen a side in all this mess.”

“You did choose a side though.” Laura sat at the edge of her bed and rubbed her tired eyes.

“We merely assisted in the capture of an armed killer.” LaFontaine said, adjusting their bowtie. “We don’t want others to assume this means our allegiance goes to the vampires, like you’ve just claimed.”

“Wait.” Laura brought up a hand to stop them. “Why would you want to sit in the middle on this? If the werewolves defend Mel’s actions, then that makes them just as bad as she is.”

Perry stared at her hands. “As magicfolk, we simply don’t feel that it is appropriate for us to get involved in a vampire-werewolf war.”

“You’re already involved.” Laura pointed out.

“Involuntarily involved, yes.” LaFontaine replied. “You can’t really tell a vampire no, especially when two of them are cornering you.”

“Are you talking about in the cafeteria? You could have said no.” Laura was growing more frustrated by the second. “Guys! You’re friends with Danny, you know the vampires aren’t heartless bullies. They wouldn’t have forced you to go into the forest last night if you’d said you didn’t want to, even though we probably wouldn’t have caught Mel without you.”

“Laura.” Perry rubbed her temples. “You’re misunderstanding us. We don’t think badly of the vampires, we just feel that they can be very…intimidating, and they know that they can be intimidating, so sometimes they use that to their advantage.”

“Okay.” It wasn’t okay. “It’s fine.” It definitely wasn’t fine. “I’ll tell Carmilla you two don’t want to be involved anymore.”

“Thank you.” Perry hesitated, as if there was something else she wanted to ask from Laura.

“We’ll see you later.” LaFontaine placed a hand on Perry’s shoulder and steered her toward the door. Laura waited until the door had swung closed behind them to fall back to her pillow.

—

“We have a problem.” Danny announced as she entered Mattie’s office. The place was spotless after their night of detailed cleaning.

“What’s happened now?” Mattie asked from behind her desk.

“The wolves are asking around about her.” Danny informed them, making sure to keep her voice low on the off chance that Mel could hear their conversation from the basement. “I think they know what she’s been doing. Why else would they be so worried? She hasn’t even been gone for twelve hours yet.”

“Send the alpha to me.” Mattie requested.

“Now?” Danny and Carmilla asked in unison.

Mattie continued writing on the documents at her desk. “Wait until it’s absolutely necessary. I’d like to spare myself the headache for as long as I can.”

Carmilla stared at the place on the rug where she’d dumped Will’s body. It felt like ages had gone by since then.

“Do you think the other wolves are still involved?” Danny asked her sisters. “Mel could’ve lied about that letter. Maybe Straka ordered her to hunt us. I’ve never seen a wolf hate our kind the way he does.”

“Theo Straka doesn’t have that kind of authority, he’s only a beta.” Mattie answered, distracted. “We’d have to question the alpha to find out for sure.”

Carmilla stood from where she’d been lounging on the chair and stretched. “Sounds like you gals have everything covered.”

“We’ll need you here when the alpha comes.” Mattie said before Carmilla could get away.

Carmilla groaned. “When?”

Mattie glanced up at Danny. “How long would you guess we have?”

Danny shrugged. “I don’t know. They already seem pretty anxious. It probably depends on if they think she’s still alive or not.”

“They’ll know she’s alive if they think we have her.” Mattie ceased her writing and looked up. “I would ask that you try to keep these tensions quiet. The university would suffer greatly if such a scandal were to get out.” She focused on Carmilla. “That includes keeping your little journalist friend in check.”

“Laura won’t be a problem.” Carmilla replied with a small bit of doubt lingering in the back of her mind. She was putting a lot of blind faith into a girl she hardly knew at all.

Mattie put the lid over her pen and stood. “For her sake, I hope not.”

—

Laura opened her window, stopping for a moment to admire the sunset. She hadn’t seen such gorgeous pinks and oranges fill the sky since her last night at home. It felt like forever ago that she’d left her father at home for Silas. She crossed the room and returned to her desk where she’d spent most of the day typing.

The stars were out by the time her open window served its purpose.

“How long have you been sitting there?” Laura asked her vampire friend upon noticing her presence on the windowsill. She hastily saved the document she’d been working on and exited out of the word program.

“Not long.” Carmilla answered lazily, her gaze turned to the night sky.

With butterflies in her stomach, Laura moved to join her by the window. “How’s your day been?”

“Well, no one tried to kill me, so I’d say it was alright.” Carmilla glanced to her. “And you?”

Laura thought back to her visit from LaFontaine and Perry. “Could’ve gone better.”

“Have you even left this room?” Carmilla questioned, eyeing the mountain of the empty snack wrappers in the trash can.

“No. I skipped going to the cafeteria for lunch.” Laura admitted quietly. “I didn’t feel like socializing.”

“In general or with someone specific?” Carmilla paused. “You can tell me to leave if you don’t want me here.”

“No!” Laura blushed. “No, I meant socializing with LaFontaine and Perry. You’re fine. The open window was an invitation.”

Carmilla’s hair blew around her face as a gust of wind hit them. “Can I ask what the ginger spell-slingers did to upset you?”

Laura chose her words carefully. “They dropped by this morning to talk about what’s going to happen now that you guys have Mel. They said they don’t want to pick a side if this turns into some kind of vampire-werewolf war.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Still bitter about all those witch trials, are they?”

“What do you mean?” Laura asked as she leaned a shoulder against the wall.

Carmilla slung her other leg into the room, stood, and shut the window. “Humans have always been scared of magic. They’ve killed people accused of witchcraft for thousands of years, mostly their own kind, but then witch trials became the new fad and suddenly spellcasters found themselves getting executed one by one. They tried to get other supernatural beings to help them, but no one answered their cry.”

“Why didn’t anyone help them?” Laura wondered aloud.

“Because the rest of us were already in hiding.” Carmilla shrugged. “If magicfolk had gone into hiding when the rest of us did, there never would’ve been an issue. It was their own damn fault.”

Laura bit her lip. “Do you really think they would hold a grudge like that? Even their descendants?”

Carmilla crossed her arms and leaned against the window. “That’s how it works in the supernatural world.”

“That’s stupid.” Laura said bluntly.

Carmilla smirked and sarcastically replied, “You’d get along swell with my mother.”

Laura pushed away from the wall. “Your birth mom or your Dean mom?”

Carmilla laughed. “Both of them, now that I think about it.”

Laura fidgeted with her fingers. “Why hasn’t the Dean stepped in with all of this? With Mel and whoever gave her the arrows, I mean.”

“She doesn’t know about any of it. Maman doesn’t like to be bothered, and Mattie likes to fix things on her own—which means she likes to order the rest of us around until the problem is gone.” Carmilla slowly looked Laura up and down. “It’s a win-win for them both.”

“Do you have to take orders from Mattie because she’s the eldest sister?” Laura tried to ignore the way Carmilla was looking at her, but immediately found such a task to be incredibly difficult.

“It’s less about age, and more about respect.” Carmilla clarified. “We’re not forced into a hierarchy like the wolves are.”

“I thought Professor Belmonde told Mel that the Dean was your alpha.”

“She only meant to say that Maman is the head of our family.”

Laura nodded. “So, really, you wouldn’t let anyone order you around then?”

“No.” Carmilla narrowed her gaze suspiciously.

Laura took a step closer, having to look up at the vampire now. “Not even me?”

“That depends.” Carmilla relented. “What kind of demands did you have in mind?”

Laura smiled. “Dinner first, demands later.”

—

The way that Carmilla had imagined her first date with Laura to go was spectacular. Candles all around, fresh roses in a vase on the table, gourmet food prepared for them to share and enjoy, classical music playing softly in the background…unfortunately, that dream was far from reality.

“You’re sure this is where you want to go?” Carmilla asked for the umpteenth time as she stared with disgust at the flashing neon sign above them.

“It’ll be fun.” Laura promised, all cheerful and excited.

They’d walked down to the local village with the intent of having dinner at the one fancy restaurant available, but their plan had been derailed when Laura got distracted by a chalkboard sign on the sidewalk advertising bottomless breadsticks inside Brunhilda’s Bar.

“Please?” Laura begged, knowing just how to break Carmilla down.

“Fine.” Carmilla surrendered. “But I’m not playing shuffleboard or billiards or any of those trivial bar games.”

“Deal.” Laura said as she took Carmilla’s hand in her own and dragged her through the doors.

They took seats at a table in the back, away from the billiards table and the shuffleboard and the trio of locals leaning against the bar. Brunhilda came by with the first round of breadsticks without being prompted to. She tossed them a few menus before grunting her way back to the kitchen.

Carmilla looked over the menu with a scowl on her face. “This food sounds disgusting.”

Laura laughed. “I’m sorry that ‘blood pie’ isn’t on the menu.”

“That also sounds disgusting.” Carmilla glanced at Laura over the top of her menu. Laura looked beautiful in the dim bar lighting. Then again, she looked beautiful no matter the circumstance. “I may not need regular food to survive, but my taste buds still work just fine.”

“So you never get hungry?” Laura asked curiously. “For food, I mean. Not for blood.”

“Never.” Carmilla dropped the sticky menu to the table. “I can feel full after eating food, but it’s not the same full that I feel after drinking blood. I need blood similar to the way you need water. Without it, I’ll die.”

“That’s really fascinating.” Laura mumbled with a mouthful of breadsticks. She pointed to the last one in the basket. “Are you going to eat that?”

—

“I’m so full.” Laura groaned, reclined in blissful agony on her bed. “I shouldn’t have eaten that third basket of breadsticks.”

Carmilla snickered from where she stood near the window. “I warned you not to.”

“This may be ill-mannered of me, but a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do…” Laura reached down and unbuttoned her pants. She sighed at the relief. “That’s better.”

Amused, Carmilla said, “I don’t know why you even asked for more breadsticks to bring home with you.”

“You can have them if you want.” Laura sluggishly gestured at the to-go box on her desk. “I don’t think I’ll ever eat another breadstick again in my life.”

“Bread isn’t exactly what I’m hungry for.” Carmilla admitted.

Laura craned her neck to look at the vampire. “Is the cafeteria even open this late?”

Carmilla shook her head. “It’s not.”

Laura sat up. “Is that why you’re standing so far away?”

Carmilla half-shrugged. “It might be.”

Laura bit her lip while she pondered the situation. “Do you not trust yourself enough to sit on the bed? Because you can, if you want to.”

With great hesitation, Carmilla crossed the room and took a seat at the edge of the bed beside her.

“What’s it like?” Laura asked quietly. “What’s it like to drink from a human instead of a juicebox?”

A smile slipped onto Carmilla’s lips as she replied, “It’s one of the greatest pleasures in the world. The taste is a little different for every human, but always delicious. Always. The ecstasy, it spreads through your body like a hot drink on a cold winter’s night. And of course the more blood you consume, the more exceptional you feel. In that perfect moment…you feel alive again.”

Laura grew exceedingly aware of how close they were sitting. “And what does it feel like to be on the other end of that? To be the one you’re drinking from?”

Carmilla looked Laura in the eyes. “I can’t say from experience, but I’ve been told it can go one of two ways. It either feels like your very soul is being excruciatingly drained from your body, or it feels like the most sensual, erotic indulgence of your life.”

Laura swallowed hard. Hearing Carmilla talk about sensual and erotic indulgences while she was giving Laura seduction eyes was really doing a number on her self-control. If her stomach hadn’t been so bloated with breadsticks, she probably would have given into her desires by then.

A distant howling drew their attention away from each other and to the window.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Laura noted.

“No.” Carmilla muttered. “No, it doesn’t.”

—

“They have us surrounded!” Danny’s panicked pacing was doing more to annoy Carmilla than the pack of wolves stalking about outside Mattie’s office.

“I don’t understand.” Laura said from the couch. “How did they find out Mel was here so fast?”

Danny glared at Laura. “Someone must’ve told them.”

Laura gasped. “LaF and Perry would never!”

“That’s enough.” Mattie said as she took a seat behind her desk. “Fetch me the alpha before they wake up the entire campus.”

“I’ll do it.” Carmilla volunteered. She didn’t want to leave Laura alone with her sisters, but she knew sending Danny outside would only make things worse than they already were. She walked down the narrow hallway to the front door and opened it to reveal a rowdy pack of werewolves lurking around the garden.

“She’s ready to talk.” Carmilla announced, trying to figure out which of the furry mongrels was the alpha in the dark. A pair of them transformed out of their wolf form, grabbed a bag of clothes from the back of another, and dressed themselves. Presentable, the boys climbed the stairs and wordlessly followed Carmilla through the townhouse to Mattie’s office. The wolves stayed near the door, ready to make a quick getaway if they needed to, while Carmilla walked over to stand near the couch. Though Laura had insisted on coming with her, Carmilla still guiltily felt as if she’d somehow drug the human into their mess.

“Wilson. Theo.” Mattie greeted, emotionless as ever.

“Professor Belmonde.” Kirsch bounced nervously on the heels of his bare feet.

“Professor.” Theo crossed his arms over his chest. He kept a close eye on Danny, who had moved to stand in the corner of the room.

“What can I do for you?” Mattie asked with her hands clasped together on the desk.

Kirsch took a cautious step forward. “We know you have Mel, and that’s like totally not cool with us.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. How a giant puppy like Wilson Kirsch ever became an alpha was a mystery to her.

“Melanippe Callis is in our care, yes.” Mattie allowed. “She has proven herself to be a danger to other students, and I cannot allow for this behavior to continue. On behalf of the Dean, I have taken Mel into my custody for the time being.”

Theo nudged Kirsch forward, and audibly groaned when the alpha said nothing.

“Alright.” Theo dropped his arms to his sides. “Let’s just get right down to it, shall we? You give us back Mel, and we’ll pretend like none of this ever happened.”

“She killed three people.” Danny growled from the corner.

“Three _vampires_.” Theo corrected.

Laura tugged at Carmilla’s sleeve until she looked down at her. As surreptitiously as she could, Laura pointed to Theo and mouthed the word 'hunter'.

Mattie cleared her throat. “As you cannot ensure Mel’s behavior will stop, I cannot release her yet.”

Kirsch scratched behind his ear. “So, like, what do you want from us? How do we get her back?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Mattie said with a twinkle in her eye. “First, I’ll need all silver arrows on this campus collected and delivered to me so that they may be destroyed. You can use the ones we found on Mel to sniff out the rest. If my calculations are correct, there are a total of five silver arrows unaccounted for. Should you find any other silver weapons, I would like those as well.”

“Deal.” Kirsch eagerly agreed.

“I’m not finished.” Mattie continued. “Secondly, I will need the both of you and Mel to go before the board of directors and answer any and all questions we may have for you.”

“Okay.” Kirsch nodded.

“And finally…” Mattie pulled a sheet of paper from a folder on her desk. “I will need you to trace the scent of this letter back to its original author.”

“You’ve got a deal.” Kirsch smiled, unaware of how displeased his beta was.

“How did you get that letter?” Theo asked angrily.

“Never mind that.” Mattie tucked the page away in her folder. “Your alpha has spoken.”

In a huff, Theo fled the room. Alone, Kirsch scrambled for something to say. “Um, er, uh, we’ll go get you those arrows. All five. Anything that’s silver and pointy, we’ll bring it right to you. Then we’ll track down whoever wrote the letter and go to your board meeting thing.”

He trailed off after Theo, accidentally slamming the door behind him in his hurry.

Able to breathe again, Danny resumed her pacing. “Are you seriously going to let Mel go unpunished?”

“Of course not.” Mattie pulled the piece of paper back out of her folder and crumpled it into a ball.

Danny stopped mid-step. “What are you doing?”

“It’s not the real letter.” Carmilla explained. “It was a fake. She wanted to see what they would do if they thought she had it, and brilliant Theo just proved that Mel wasn’t lying about getting one.”

“How did you know?” Danny asked skeptically.

Carmilla scoffed. “How did you not?”

Danny turned back to Mattie. “So what are we going to do with Mel then?”

Mattie tossed the ball of paper into the recycling bin across the room with perfect accuracy. “Release her. Follow her. Watch her. Let her lead us to the real letter, or better yet, to the one she’s working for. Without her silver weapons, she’ll be much easier to recapture once she’s of no more use to us.”

“And then what?” Danny did nothing to hide her excitement.

Mattie gave her a stern look. “I understand that you want to avenge William and the freshmen, but this is a delicate situation. The board will have to decide what to do with Mel first. I expect the vote will be unanimous to expel her. After she is no longer a student of this university, what happens to her is none of the board’s concern. Your patience until that decision is finalized will be crucial.”

Laura put her arm across the back of the couch to turn and look at Mattie. “Wouldn’t killing Mel just make you as bad as she is?”

Mattie stared at Carmilla as she answered Laura. “Blood for blood. That is the way we do things. Isn’t that right, Mircalla?”

“Blood for blood.” Carmilla agreed quietly, cringing at the sound of a name she’d tried long and hard to abandon.

Laura grew pale. “You don’t mean…”

“Oh, yes, I most certainly do.” Mattie looked to Laura. “Once the wolves have served out their side of the arrangement, Kirsch and Straka will face Mel’s fate as well. It’s the only way to resolve this injustice.” She smiled politely. “Three dead wolves for three dead vampires.”


	7. No Time Like The Present

Wearing Carmilla’s jacket that she had yet to return, Laura reached for her second leftover breadstick. She was having trouble reaching the to-go box across the bed, so Carmilla finally took pity on her and grabbed the breadstick for her. She handed it to Laura without having to move from where she sat propped up against the wall.

“Thanks.” Laura said before taking a large bite out of it. “So, what’s the deal with Professor Belmonde calling you Mircalla? Do you two have secret spooky vampire nicknames for each other?”

Carmilla stared at her hands in her lap. There was no way that she could bring herself to look Laura in the eyes. “That was the name given to me at birth.”

“Why did you change it?” Laura asked through her mouthful of bread. It amazed Carmilla that one tiny human could manage to make something as atrocious as talking with her mouth full so unintentionally lovable.

“I wasn’t always the person I am today. I used to be different.” Carmilla explained. “I was angry, resentful. I was an awful human, and to be honest I was an even worse vampire. I would take Maman’s orders to the extreme, even when I didn’t have to. Whenever she would tell me to settle a score for her, I’d take that blood for blood motto and run with it. The worst memory, the one that will always haunt me, happened with the Vordenberg family. They were hunters, and Maman had ordered for Mattie and I to bring back one of their heads.” She paused, almost unable to go on. “We slaughtered the entire family that night. I killed without care, without even giving it a second thought. But I’m not that person anymore. Mircalla…that’s not who I am. I’m ashamed of ever being like that.”

Laura tossed her half-eaten breadstick back into the to-go box, almost missing. “Does that mean you won’t help Professor Belmonde kill Mel, Kirsch, and Theo?”

“It’s not that simple.” Carmilla hated to admit her inner turmoil. “I don’t think the boys should have to die for something they didn’t do, but Mel can’t go unpunished for what she’s done.”

“So send her to prison!” Laura begged. “Blood for blood isn’t going to fix anything. It’s not going to bring your brother back, or those two freshmen. If anything, it would make the whole situation worse. Do you really want a war?”

“We don’t want a war, but no one asked for a crazy wolf to run around shooting silver arrows at us either.” Carmilla pointed out. “Besides, we can’t just go and lock her up somewhere. The supernatural world doesn’t have a legal system or jails. If you tried to bring this into a human courtroom, you’d be the one getting locked up for wasting their time or for insanity. Blood for blood is how things are handled here. It’s always been this way.”

Laura sat up. “But you just said that you aren’t that kind of person anymore.”

“I’m not a cruel, mindless henchman anymore.” Carmilla corrected. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in justice. Mel tried to kill me, more than once, and she almost killed you in the process. If we let her irrational ass run free, she’ll just do it again.”

“What about her family? Her parents? Or the rest of the werewolves? They’ll want to retaliate if you kill her. Blood for blood is just an endless cycle. It doesn’t fix anything.”

“Then perhaps a war is inevitable after all.”

Laura fell back to her pillows. “This is so not how I imagined my first week of college to go.”

Carmilla kicked off her boots, each one landing on the wood floor with a loud thud, and moved her legs properly onto the bed. She thought carefully about the circumstance before saying, “I’ll talk to them. I’ll see if I can have Kirsch and Straka spared, but there’s not a chance in hell that they’ll let Mel walk away from this.”

Laura sighed. “Are you sure there’s no alternative? It just doesn’t seem right to kill someone, even if they killed first.”

Carmilla shrugged. “We could always turn her into a living blood bag and gift her to Maman for the holidays.”

Laura blinked.

Carmilla smirked. “I’m kidding.”

“Oh, yeah, well, I knew that.” Laura grumbled.

“No one likes the taste of wolf anyway.”

Laura sat up again. “What if we asked LaF and Perry to help? They might know a good spell or something. Maybe something that could stop Mel from ever killing again.”

Carmilla placed her hand over Laura’s on the bed. “If you’re worried that Mel’s death will be your fault for helping us catch her, don’t be. She did this to herself the moment that she picked up those arrows. Her fate is out of our hands.”

“I don’t believe that.” Laura uncrossed her legs and draped them over Carmilla’s. “And I don’t think you believe it either.”

Carmilla sat with Laura’s words ringing in her head for a long time. She was torn, conflicted, so unsure of what to do. On the one hand, she agreed with Laura. Blood for blood had proven to be an endless cycle of death. But on the other hand, Mel had tried to kill her and that wasn’t something she could easily forgive.

“Let’s watch a movie.” Laura suggested. “I need a mental break from all of this.”

—

When Laura had proposed the idea of watching a movie, she hadn’t considered that it would require both of them to lie next to each other so closely on the single bed. On top of that, Carmilla’s lighthearted determination to distract Laura was proving to be quite hard to ignore.

“Your heartbeat is louder than the movie.” Carmilla teased her.

“Sorry.” Laura said, silently cursing the blush that warmed her cheeks. “Do I need to turn it up?”

Carmilla turned her head to look at Laura. “Do you mean turn up the volume of the movie or your heart rate? Because I think I can help with at least one of those.”

Laura couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. “You’re not even going to pretend to watch the movie? You’re just going to skip that part? It’s only been five minutes, they’re not even on the island yet.”

Carmilla grinned. “They get to the island, the dinosaurs get out, people die, then they leave the island. You’re not missing much.”

“Much? That’s literally the whole movie.” Laura was determined not to look away from the computer screen at her desk. She wouldn’t let Carmilla win so easily. She wanted to make the vampire have to work for it. 

“You know, I usually go for classical music to play in the background, but if a ‘death and carnage’ soundtrack is more your style…”

Laura rolled her eyes. “When I asked if you wanted to watch a movie, I meant let’s _watch_ a movie.”

“If you say so.” Carmilla said knowingly.

Laura couldn’t resist the temptation any longer. She turned her head to look at the girl beside her, growing nervous as they locked eyes. “I know it’s only like eight o’clock, but if you wanted to stay the night…you’re more than welcome to.”

Carmilla half-shrugged with the shoulder that wasn’t pressed against Laura’s. “I’ll have to think about it.”

Laura laughed. “You are so annoying.”

“Maybe.” Carmilla licked her lips. “But you like it.”

“And you’re so sure of that because?”

“Because you keep inviting me in.”

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of being annoying.”

“Then tell me to stop.” Carmilla propped herself up on an elbow, leaning into Laura’s body just enough to make it noticeable. “If I do something that you don’t like, then tell me to stop.”

“That’s the thing…I don’t want you to stop.” Laura glanced at Carmilla’s lips again and again, wanting so badly for the vampire to lean down and kiss her. “I lied. You’re not annoying. You’re kind, and considerate, and interesting, and amazing, and…I don’t know what you see in me.”

“I see someone who knows what she wants out of life. Someone who knows what she believes in, who knows what she stands for. Someone brave enough jump head first into a world that resists her. Someone dedicated to making that world a better place. Someone strong. Someone beautiful.”

“I really want to kiss you.” Laura confessed in a whisper as she reached a hand up to tuck a lock of Carmilla’s hair behind her ear.

Carmilla smiled as Laura’s fingertips brushed against her skin. “Then what’s stopping you?”

Laura’s hand moved to the back of Carmilla’s neck and pulled her down into a tentative kiss, which led to another kiss, and another, and another, until suddenly their lips were moving in sync as if they had always been meant to meet.

—

“These are the only silver weapons you could find?” Mattie inquired as she inspected the five arrows that Kirsch had placed on her desk.

“Yes, ma’am.” The alpha nodded nervously. He was covered in dirt and drenched with sweat. “I personally covered the whole campus for you. That’s the only silver I could get to.”

Carmilla crossed her arms as she leaned against Mattie’s desk. “That you could get to?”

“Well, yeah.” He took a step back. “We couldn’t go running around inside those creepy old apartments near the administration buildings in the middle of the night. Breaking and entering is, like, so not okay.”

“Which apartment?” Danny asked before pulling a curtain back to peer out one of the windows. Like her sisters, Danny was suspicious of why Theo Straka had not bothered to join his alpha at their midnight meeting.

“I don’t know the number.” Kirsch wildly looked between Mattie and Danny. “But I can take you there if you want.”

Danny scoffed. “You honestly thought that we’d fall for that?”

“It’s not a trap!” He threw up his hands. “I swear! Alpha’s honor.”

“Where’s your sidekick Theo?” Danny asked him. “Waiting there to ambush us?”

“Dudes, come on, I’m not trying to trick you.” He pleaded. “I’m serious. One of those apartments is totally loaded up with some silver. It might not even be in, like, weapon form or whatever, but I just thought you’d want to know.”

“We’ll look into it.” Mattie pointed to the basement door. “Since you’ve complied with our demands thus far, you may release Miss Callis. But Wilson…” She delicately picked up an arrow and examined it up close. “If so much as a single shred of silver harms one more vampire at this university, I will personally track you down and gut you until you are hollow inside. Have I made myself clear?”

He tried to hide his fear but failed miserably. “Yes, ma’am. Totally clear.”

—

“How did the meeting go?” Laura asked as Carmilla climbed in through the open window. Her lips were still buzzing from their evening full of kissing and giggling and flirting. She’d absolutely hated when Carmilla had said that she couldn’t go to the meetup with her, but more than that Laura had been sad that the kissing and giggling and flirting needed to be put on pause.

Carmilla shut the window and pulled down the curtains. “They traded the silver arrows for Mel, just like Mattie asked. And apparently there’s a huge stash of silver in one of the old faculty apartments near the administration buildings, but it’s probably just some old professor’s collection of antique silver spoons or something like that.”

“What if it’s not?” Laura moved from the bed to stand closer to Carmilla. “What if your silver spoon hoarder is actually the person who sent Mel that letter?”

Unexpectedly, Carmilla swooped down and pressed her lips against Laura’s. Smiling, she said, “You’re cute when you worry, did you know that?”

“I’m cute all the time.” Laura fired back, excited to have Carmilla’s lips near hers again.

“Oh, goodness me, you’re right.” Carmilla faked a gasp. “Please do accept my apologies.”

As nonchalantly as she could, Laura replied, “I’ll have to think about it.”

Carmilla’s arm was just long enough to reach the light switch on the wall without her having to move. She flipped off the ceiling light, leaving them in only the dim glow from the desk lamp.

“It feels like I’ve waited forever for a girl like you.” Carmilla admitted quietly.

“You haven’t even known me for a full week yet.” Laura pointed out. “If you were anyone else, I’d probably hear something like that and go running for the hills.” She paused. “But when I hear you say it…I just want to run into your arms.”

“And here I was thinking I was going to be the sappy romantic one.” Carmilla teased with a smirk.

“I can be romantic.” Laura took a step back, loving the way Carmilla watched her. The dimmed lighting had completely changed the energy in the room. “But right now, the things I want you to do to me aren’t very sappy or romantic.”

“I thought you wanted to wait?” Carmilla remained perfectly still, as if moving even an inch would scare Laura away.

Laura stretched out her arm and offered her hand to Carmilla. “If all of this has taught me anything, it’s that there’s no time like the present.”

Carmilla took her hand and let Laura lead her to the bed. She sat on the edge and looked up at Laura, watching her carefully. “Are you sure? We don’t have to. I can wait as long as you need me to.”

“That’s why I know I’m sure.” Laura leaned over and placed a gentle kiss to Carmilla’s lips before asking, “Is this what you want?”

“More than you could ever know.” Carmilla answered, never taking her eyes off of Laura.

Laura stood up straight, pulled her shirt off over her head, tossed it to the floor, and said, “Then take off your clothes.”

Carmilla hastily kicked off her boots and removed her shirt. By the time she was reaching to unfasten her belt, Laura’s pants had joined the growing pile of clothing. She stopped to look Laura up and down.

“You’re moving awfully slow for a vampire.” Laura smirked as she placed her hands on Carmilla’s shoulders and pushed the girl onto her back. She climbed on top of Carmilla and straddled her hips. “If only I’d known that getting intimate with an older woman would be so different.”

“Better watch yourself, creampuff.” Carmilla pushed herself forward onto her bare feet on the floor with her arms wrapped around Laura’s lower back so that she was carrying the human once she stood up.

“Or what?” Laura challenged, locking her hands around the back of Carmilla’s neck to keep herself upright. “You’ll put on a big show of how strong you are?”

Carmilla rolled her eyes as she lowered her hands to hold Laura by her butt, for better support of course. “Or I’ll have to teach you a lesson about manners.”

Laura laughed as Carmilla turned them around. “I’d like to see you try.”

Gently, Carmilla lowered Laura to the bed and moved to hover over her. She kissed along Laura’s collarbone, setting Laura’s skin on fire each time that her lips touched her.

“Carm?”

She froze. “Yes?”

Laura swallowed hard. She wasn’t nervous, but she wasn’t sure how the vampire would react to the proposition she had in mind. “Are you thirsty?”

Carmilla moved so that she could see Laura’s face. She stayed quiet for a moment before saying, “I don’t want you to feel obligated to—“

“I don’t feel that way.” Laura stopped her. “I want you to.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very sure.”

Carmilla closed her eyes and allowed herself to breathe in. When she opened her eyes again, her lips parted to reveal a pair of sharp fangs. “Still sure?”

Laura pulled the vampire down into a kiss before saying, “I trust you.”

Carmilla kissed her lips again, then kissed along her jawline and down the side of her neck until she settled on a good spot. “It will hurt, at first.”

Laura turned her head away so that more of her neck was exposed. Carmilla kissed the chosen spot once more before lining up her fangs. She held Laura’s hand with one of her own, and placed her free hand on Laura’s shoulder to keep it from reflexively jerking up and hitting her in the face.

“Do it.” Laura lowered her voice. “Bite me.”

Two white-hot piercing pains shot through her neck as Carmilla sunk in her fangs. She gasped, the sharp intake of breath causing her chest to rise and press into Carmilla. She squeezed Carmilla’s hand hard with her own. But as soon as the pain was there, it was gone, replaced by adrenaline coursing through her veins. She grew a little lightheaded, but knew it was only due to the sudden blood loss. She felt weightless, breathless, but above all she felt hot. The room seemed to be growing warmer with every passing second.

Without warning, the sensation of Carmilla sucking at her neck sent a spark of arousal straight between her legs. Her hips moved on their own as she grew desperate for friction. The heat of her arousal spread throughout her whole body, but it remained concentrated heavily at her clit. A moan slipped past her lips as Carmilla’s free hand slowly traveled down from her shoulder, brushing softly across her bra, and only stopped once it had reached Laura’s underwear. Carmilla touched her lightly through the thin fabric with a single stroke of her finger, but it was just enough pressure to have Laura twisting in pleasure beneath her.

Finished, Carmilla softly licked the puncture wounds. With her hand still between Laura’s thighs, she moved to kiss Laura on the lips.

“You taste like blood.” Laura giggled into the kiss. “It’s kind of gross.”

Carmilla slowly trailed her finger over Laura’s clit through her underwear, causing her to gasp.

“Is it?” Carmilla asked with a smirk, fully aware of what she was doing to Laura.

“Take off your pants.” Laura demanded. She wasn’t sure where this side of her was coming from, but Carmilla seemed to like being ordered around by her so she decided not to dwell on the mystery for too long.

Carmilla pushed herself up so that she was standing. Slowly, mostly to put on a good show, she unfastened her belt and undid the button of her pants. She let them fall to the floor and stepped out of them before resuming her place on top of Laura.

“Anything else I can do for you, your royal highness?” Carmilla asked with a kiss.

“As a matter of fact…” Laura reached around and unclasped Carmilla’s bra. “You can help me get rid of these.”

With both of their bras on the floor, the resulting make-out session became vastly more exciting than the last. Laura’s neck was still a little tender to the touch, but Carmilla was gentle. Always gentle. Every kiss to her lips, to her neck, to her chest, was a soft one.

Carmilla kissed just below her ear and whispered, “I want to taste you.”

“Isn’t that what you just did?” Laura asked, distracted by the feeling of Carmilla’s breasts against her own.

“A different kind of taste.” Carmilla murmured as she kissed her way down Laura’s chest and stomach. With some assistance, she pulled off Laura’s underwear, followed quickly by her own.

Laura’s head fell back as Carmilla kissed the insides of her thighs. She knew the vampire would tease her until she was begging for it, but she didn’t want to give up too quickly. She held her bottom lip between her teeth as Carmilla dragged her fangs softly along her inner thigh. Carmilla’s hands traveled up to cup Laura’s breasts, her nipples hard against the palms of the vampire’s hands.

“Carm.” Laura whined, not caring anymore if she sounded as desperate as she felt.

Slowly, delicately, Carmilla licked her tongue through the wetness to find Laura’s clit.

“ _Carm_.” Laura whimpered with shallow breath as Carmilla’s tongue began to grind against her in unimaginable ways. In all her years of being touched, by herself or by others, Laura had never felt so overwhelmingly turned on before. Her hips moved wildly on their own, trying to keep up with Carmilla’s pace.

Carmilla used her tongue to spread Laura open so that she could carefully slip one of her fingers inside. Her mouth returned to Laura’s clit, sucking at it just enough to make a moan catch in Laura’s throat. Carmilla’s finger moved with expertise, finding just the right spot to hit. She added a second finger while increasing her speed. She licked circles around Laura’s clit as her fingers pumped in and out.

Laura was on the edge of a sensory overload. The sight of Carmilla between her legs was one of the hottest images she’d ever witnessed, and could probably count as an eighth Wonder of the World. The room smelled faintly of blood and sex, but even that added to her immense arousal. The feeling of Carmilla’s mouth on her, the sound of her own wetness, the way Carmilla’s fingers moved so precisely, gave her tunnel vision. There was only Carmilla and her, and nothing else in the world mattered. Laura’s whole body shook as her release neared.

Breathless, Laura struggled to speak coherently. “I’m…I-I’m going to…I’m going to—“

Carmilla kept up pace, using the hand that was still cupping one of Laura’s breasts to tease her nipple.

“Come for me.” Carmilla demanded, her eyes locked with Laura’s.

Laura’s head fell back as she was taken over the edge with a blindingly powerful orgasm that arched her back and sent her hands to hold Carmilla’s head where it was. Carmilla kept going, her tongue and fingers moving even faster as Laura squirmed with pleasure. Laura wasn’t even sure if the first orgasm had actually ended when the second one began.

“Fuck.” She moaned, unable to control her movements as Carmilla’s fingers seemed to magically lift Laura’s hips into the air. Still, Carmilla didn’t stop. She kept up her pace and added a third finger. Laura nearly died and came back to life as yet another wave of pleasure erupted deep within her.

Exhausted, out of breath, and covered in sweat, Laura collapsed on the bed. Content with her work, Carmilla finally pushed herself up so that she and Laura were at eye level again.

“I think I’m in love.” Laura muttered through her ecstasy, hoping Carmilla would take the joke for what it was.

Carmilla kissed her lips. “For the record, you taste wonderful.”

Laura’s hands moved to Carmilla’s hips, holding the vampire in place above her. Though she surely needed a moment to collect herself, she knew that the night was far from being over. “I wonder if the same can be said about you.”

Carmilla smiled into their kiss. “Only one way to find out.” 


	8. The Sister I Know

Laura was pulled from a hazy dream by the smell of pancakes. Her eyes popped open and she craned her neck back to see a naked Carmilla standing in the kitchenette with her back to Laura. She watched the vampire for a few groggy moments, partially wondering if she was still dreaming, but mostly wondering where the pancakes were.

Laura whistled. “Now there’s a view I don’t mind waking up to.”

Carmilla flashed Laura a smile over her shoulder. “It’s about time you woke up. It’s almost noon.”

Laura rolled over to lie on her stomach, the bedsheet falling to expose her bare back. “It’s not my fault you wore me out.”

“I distinctly recall you swearing up and down that you could keep up with me.” Carmilla replied, her grin evident in her voice.

Laura groaned. “Okay, well, I didn’t realize at the time that you have the stamina of a god.”

Carmilla bounded across the room so fast that Laura missed the movement altogether. One second she was by the fridge, and the next she was sitting beside Laura under the bedsheet with a plate of pancakes in her lap.

Laura flipped around to get a better look at the food. “How did you make pancakes? I don’t even have a stove.”

“I made them at Mattie’s while you were sleeping.” She answered while drizzling a generous amount of syrup over them.

“You went outside without clothes on?” Laura licked her lips, immensely enjoying how the syrup slowly cascaded down the sides of the pancake stack.

Carmilla passed the plate to Laura. “I threw on your little Nancy Drew trench coat first. Hope you don’t mind.”

Laura laughed at the thought of Carmilla wearing her sleuthing coat before she eagerly began cutting the pancakes into bitable portions. “If you’re willing to run across campus just to make me breakfast in bed, you can wear whatever of mine you want. Thank you. Really. I can’t even begin to describe how nice this is.”

“Anytime.” Carmilla smiled and placed a quick peck on Laura’s cheek.

—

Carmilla let her leg fall off the tree branch, swinging it freely back and forth as she tried her best to ignore Danny’s ramblings from the branch below.

“You want to know what I don’t get?” Danny asked as she slapped Carmilla’s boot for swinging a bit too close to her head.

“Not really.” Carmilla answered.

Unbothered, Danny pressed on. “I don’t get why you always act like nothing ever fazes you. I mean, Will _died_ , you had to carry his body back to us. That didn’t bother you?”

“You’re young.” Carmilla watched a squirrel running along a neighboring tree. “Everything matters when you’re young. Someday you’ll learn that what can’t be helped, shouldn’t be grieved.”

Danny was quiet for a few moments before saying, “He was our brother.”

“And he was a fool.” Carmilla replied. In all honesty, she probably wouldn’t miss Will. He was arrogant, chauvinistic, and unpredictable. Working beside him had always been dreadful. Still, Will had been family and that did count for something. His loyalty had been unwavering, that much she could praise.

“Has anyone even told Mother about him yet?” Danny asked.

Annoyed, Carmilla answered, “No, and we won’t say anything until we have all this wolf business behind us. We go to her with settled reports, not ongoing problems.”

They sat in silence for several minutes.

“Why don’t we ever talk?” Danny questioned. “We’ve never had a normal conversation.”

“Because you irritate me.” Carmilla grumbled.

“That’s what little sisters are supposed to do.” Danny countered without missing a beat.

Carmilla was stopped short by that one.

Danny continued, “I’m not saying we have to stop fighting and disagreeing and annoying the absolute shit out of each other…I’m just saying that it would be nice, you know, for once, to have a normal conversation.”

“Fine.” Carmilla surrendered. “Just be glad that you caught me on a good day.”

“Oh. Really?” Danny hesitated, unsure if Carmilla was messing with her or not.

“Hurry up and say what you want before I change my mind.” Carmilla braced herself.

Danny cleared her throat. “So what’s the deal with you and Laura Hollis?”

Instant regret. “She’s a friend.”

“I can smell her on you.” Danny said with a teasing tone. “And you’re being unusually nice today. It’s not hard to put two and two together.”

“Okay, fine. She’s more than a friend. Whatever. Next topic.” Carmilla wasn’t used to talking about her feelings, and she certainly didn’t want to discuss how she felt about Laura with Danny of all people.

“Would Mother approve of you dating a human?” Danny wondered aloud.

“We’re not there yet.” She paused to covertly tap her knuckles on the tree branch. She wasn’t exactly superstitious, but it didn’t hurt to knock on literal wood when she had the opportunity to. “And no, Maman would most certainly not approve.” Carmilla said before pointing to the front door of the Summer Society lodge where Mel had just emerged. She thanked her lucky stars for the new distraction. “Time to go. The wolf is on the move.”

—

Laura sat down across from LaFontaine and Perry at their usual table in the cafeteria. She hadn’t seen the pair of spellcasters since they’d barged into her room to request that they be excluded from any further vampire versus werewolf incidences.

“Good afternoon, Laura.” Perry greeted pleasantly. Her smile noticeably faltered when her eyes fell to the small fang marks still visible on the side of Laura’s neck. Laura had attempted to cover the healing punctures with makeup but clearly hadn’t done as well as she’d hoped.

“Hey, Frosh.” LaFontaine gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement before returning their attention to a thick textbook. In a jar on the table sat LaFontaine’s neon-colored poisonous bioluminescent slug. It stared at Laura as she placed her backpack in the empty seat beside her.

“Hey.” She greeted the duo. “How’ve you guys been?”

“We’re doing well.” Perry said before pointing her thumb at LaFontaine. “This one thinks they’ve cracked Merlin’s code.”

“Oh yeah?” Laura took a bite of her sandwich. “So it’s true then? Squirrels are untrustworthy demons after all?”

LaFontaine spared another glance up, much too focused in their reading to share the humor. “Merlin’s code was cracked in 1735 by an anonymous British sorcerer. It has nothing to do with rodents, and everything to do with the manipulation of time and space.”

Laura lowered her sandwich. “You can manipulate time and space?”

“Oh, don’t be silly.” Perry brushed off Laura’s naivety. “Merlin’s coded work was all theory, nothing legitimate. He just didn’t want his ideas falling into the wrong hands if they actually worked.”

“They do work.” LaFontaine flipped a page in their book. “Or rather, they _could_ work. No one person is actually capable of generating enough magical power on their own to manipulate time and space, but if we only could find a logistical way to amplify our abilities by roughly nine or ten thousand percent, Merlin’s theories could easily become a reality.”

“Easily.” Perry added playfully.

Thinking on her feet, Laura asked, “So you can’t meddle with time, but could you, I don’t know, alter someone’s individual perception of reality?”

LaFontaine’s interest was pulled from their textbook. “In what context?”

Laura shrugged, hoping she wasn’t being too obvious with where she was leading the conversation. “Like, could you erase someone’s memories?”

Perry nodded, not yet privy to Laura’s plans. “There are several spells that have been designed to modify memories.”

“What about personal beliefs?” Laura asked. “Hypothetically speaking, could you take away someone’s prejudice against a group of people?”

LaFontaine and Perry shared a knowing look, and Laura knew that she’d been found out.

“Laura.” Perry leaned into her elbows on the table and lowered her voice. “We already talked with you about this.”

“It’s not like I’m asking if you can brainwash a pack of werewolves. I’m just trying to find a nonviolent solution to all of this.” Laura sighed. “Professor Belmonde wants to kill Mel, Kirsch, and Theo to get even for the three murders.”

Perry gasped. “Kirsch? I understand that he’s the alpha and a member of his pack went off on a killing spree, but he’s innocent. Not even Theo Straka, a boy no one on this good green Earth can even stand, deserves to die for someone else’s crime.”

LaFontaine closed their book. “The werewolves will surely strike back if their alpha and beta are killed. It will be chaotic, too. The new alpha will have a tough job of keeping everyone in line.”

“How are werewolf alphas chosen?” Laura asked. “I thought they had to be killed by someone else in the pack?”

Perry shook her head. “Honestly, Laura, you’ve got to stop watching so many human television shows. The title of alpha is given to the most worthy. The leader the pack needs, and not necessarily the one that it wants. Typically, a beta will become the new alpha if the position is opened, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Take the Zetas and the Summers for example. Together they make up a pack that solely exists at this university. When an alpha graduates Silas, a replacement is chosen. No one expected Wilson Kirsch to be the new alpha, everyone in their right mind assumed it would be the previous alpha’s beta Theo Straka, but here we are.”

Laura picked at her food. “Well how is a beta chosen then?”

LaFontaine answered, “A beta is designated by the alpha. Kirsch kept Theo as the pack’s beta, mostly because he was too afraid to pick anyone else. We all kind of thought Theo would go on a rampage over not being the alpha for his senior year, but he’s been handling it surprisingly well so far.”

Laura thought about it for a moment. “So you’re saying if Theo were to kill Kirsch, he still might not become the replacement alpha?”

Perry gave Laura a funny look. “Theo can’t _kill_ Kirsch. Even if he did become the new alpha afterward, the university would expel him. The rest of his pack would cast him out anyway. They can sense when one of their pack dies. They’d know it was Theo if he killed Kirsch. He wouldn’t be able to fool them like that.” She paused. “Werewolves are more closely linked than just by blood or family; they’re bonded by spirit.”

—

Carmilla stared with disgust up at the gaudy apartment. Even while basked in the flattering glow of the setting sun, the place still looked like a tacky nightmare.

“You’re sure this is the place?” Danny asked Kirsch again, slower this time to ensure that he would hear her correctly.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” He nervously shifted his weight from side to side. “I can’t even imagine how much silver must be up in there. I could smell it all the way from the quad.”

“Who else knows about this?” Carmilla asked him while keeping a careful eye on the windows.

He shrugged. “The whole pack. I had them do a second sweep of campus last night after we got Mel back. Everyone said the same thing. This place is a silver goldmine. Or, I mean, a silver mine? Whatever, look, it’s just full of silver, okay?”

“That’ll be all.” Carmilla dismissed him.

He looked from her to Danny and then back to her again. “You want me to go or…”

“Yes, leave.” She groaned, crossing her arms as he scurried away.

Danny waited until he was safely out of earshot to ask, “Do you think they know whose apartment it is?”

“No.” Carmilla pulled her sunglasses from the pocket of her flannel shirt and placed them over her eyes. “He would’ve said so.”

“What if Theo or Mel told him to play dumb?” Danny questioned. “It’s not that much of a stretch, considering who we’re talking about.”

“If anything, knowing would only make them more fearful of us.” Carmilla tucked her hands into the front pockets of her pants. “What reckless wolf would want to anger a matriarch vampire who surrounds herself with silver?”

Danny looked up the apartment apprehensively. “Something’s not right about this. Why does Mother even have silver?”

Though Carmilla wouldn’t admit it to Danny, she shared her sentiments exactly. She couldn’t fathom why their mother’s apartment was suddenly a silver hotspot, and she certainly couldn’t say as to whether or not this newly uncovered information was relevant to their current predicament with the wolves.

“We’ll bring this to Mattie after the emergency board meeting. She’ll have more than enough to deal with until that’s over with.” Carmilla turned and began walking the pathway back to central campus.

Danny quickly followed close behind. “What should we do now? Go back to following Mel around? She’s still at the library. I told Betty to text me if she saw her leave, but I haven’t heard from her yet.”

Carmilla stopped in her tracks, causing Danny to nearly run right into her. She swiveled around to face her younger sister. “You and Spielsdorf? Since when is that a thing?”

Growing shy, Danny took a large step back and shrugged. “I wanted to talk about her earlier, but you got all grumpy when I asked about you and Laura so I decided not to say anything. Besides, it’s not like you’ve ever actually taken an interest in my life before. What do you care who I talk to?”

Carmilla propped her sunglasses on top of her head, feeling it necessary to remove the barriers between them for at least this one brief moment in time. “Listen carefully, because I’m only going to say this once and I’ll deny having ever said it afterward.” She spread out her hands. “Love is real. I don’t give a single flying fuck what Maman or Mattie have to say about it, and you shouldn’t either. They’ll try to tell you that love is an illusion, that it’s fleeting and meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but that’s bullshit. If you love someone, if you _want_ to love someone, don’t let a couple of old hags like them stop you. Especially Mattie. Sometimes she can be a bit too much like Maman for her own good. And I’m not talking about love in the way that Maman loves us as her children, or the way we love Mattie as our sister. I’m talking about that kind of love that keeps you up at night. The kind of love that people dream about. Love that makes you want to dance. Love that writes poetry. The kind of love that fills you up. Love that makes your soul ache for more. Anyone who tries to deny you of that, can fuck right off. Maman included. If you want to be with a human, then be with her. Just, you know, don’t accidentally kill her or anything.”

Danny smiled, earnestly pleased to see a different side of Carmilla. “Is this the part where we hug out all of our animosity?”

Carmilla dropped her shades back over her eyes. “Touch me and you die.”

Danny nodded as Carmilla sped off down the pathway. “Now there’s the sister I know.”


	9. Little Villain Monologue

“The place is deserted.” Danny announced to her sisters as she entered the living room.

Carmilla picked up a silver pocket watch from the coffee table and examined it. Mattie stood in the center of the room, her lips pursed and her hands clasped together behind her back. Though she was a professional at keeping up a good poker face, it was as clear as all the surrounding silver objects that she was losing her cool.

Danny crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to stifle her own panic. “Where could she have gone? Why would she leave without saying anything to us? What’s with all the silver?”

“Remain calm.” Mattie instructed. Her heels clicked against the floor as she approached the fireplace. She stared up at the large silver sword that had been placed on the wall above the mantelpiece. “Just because a situation is strange, doesn’t mean there isn’t an explanation.”

“Have you tried calling her?” Danny asked, nearly tripping over a coil of silver wire as she moved around the room.

“Her phone is in the bedroom.” Mattie answered offhandedly.

Carmilla sniffed at the air. “This place reeks. It’s like…rotten fish and expensive cologne.”

Danny paused. “Is she seeing someone?”

Mattie laughed out loud. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Irritated, Danny asked, “Then whose cologne is it?”

“Someone who doesn’t want to be tracked.” Carmilla muttered, her eyes landing on an archer's bow and a bundle of silver arrows in the corner. “Maman’s dead, isn’t she?”

Mattie waited a moment to regain her composure before turning around to address her younger sisters. “That does seem to be the easiest conclusion to make.”

“And you would be right, Fraulein!”

The three vampires whipped around to find an old man dressed in a suit standing in the doorway. In his hand he held a revolver, loaded with silver bullets, which he aimed directly at Mattie.

Though she was terrified, Carmilla let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, why the fuck are the people who keep trying to kill us never anyone I know?”

“Oh, but you do know me, Mircalla Karnstein.” He shifted so that the gun was aimed at Carmilla’s forehead. “I am Cornelius Hans Albrecht, Lugenbaron von Vordenberg. You foolish vampires slaughtered my family as I watched from the crawlspace beneath the stairs. I was only a boy at the time, you see, but I can still remember every gory detail as if it happened yesterday. You monsters took everything from me. Now…” He smiled. “It is time that I finally repay the favor.”

Seemingly unbothered, Mattie said, “I am rather curious as to how you managed to kill our mother.”

He shuffled his feet in a small dance of delight. “Oh, it was a glorious triumph, truly! My young comrade and I, we endured a battle for the history books. Dean Lilita Morgan suffered beautifully. I must say, I have dreamed of the anguish that contorted her face each night since.” He giggled to himself. “It was rather simple, really. All it took was a silver dagger to the back, a silver bullet to the chest, and an axe through the neck. Speaking of which, I do happen to have the most perfect place picked out to mount her head back at the Vordenberg Estate. I should like to place your heads beside hers, but I may let the little fellow keep one of yours as a token of my gratitude. That reminds me, do you still have your brother’s body? I would love to have the whole set on display.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Does this little villain monologue of yours ever end?”

He chuckled and cocked the gun. “While I do admire your composure in the face of certain doom, Karnstein, I must ask that you refrain from angering me. I wouldn’t want to, what’s the phrase, jump the gun?”

Mattie raised a brow. “Stalling for time, are we?”

He bounced on his feet giddily. “Ah yes, you see, my comrade will be here shortly with our other guests.”

“Other guests?” Danny questioned, shrieking a little when Vordenberg turned the gun on her.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Did you really think that a lifetime of meticulous planning, a lifetime of research and surveillance, would end with only six dead vampires? Of course not! As I said before, you vampires took everything from me. I plan to do the very same to you.”

Carmilla’s stomach churned as realization set in.

Noticing the way Carmilla’s hands balled into shaky fists, Vordenberg pointed the gun at her once more. “That’s right, Fraulein. Those traitorous companions of yours will be joining us soon. I believe I am particularly looking forward to making you watch young Laura Hollis’s blood spill onto the floor, just as I was forced to watch as you sliced open my parents. It will be quite enjoyable for me, I think. Either way, my comrade should only be a moment or two longer. I do apologize for the delay, but you know as well as anyone that sometimes leading people to their deaths can be a bit tricky.”

Tears fell from Danny’s eyes. “We should’ve never let Mel go.”

Vordenberg grew smug. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but the werewolf Melanippe Callis is merely a cog in the machine, as they say. I was not the one who recruited her. That was all Theodore’s idea.”

“I don’t understand.” Mattie huffed. “Theo Straka is a beta. He doesn’t have the authority to order another wolf to kill for him.”

Vordenberg shifted the gun to point at Mattie. “But that is the genius of it all! He didn’t order her to kill anyone! He gave her a choice. An anonymous one, but a choice nonetheless.”

“But why would he help you?” Carmilla asked. “Did you offer to kill Kirsch and make him the alpha?”

He grinned. “There is nothing in this world more powerful than desire, wouldn’t you say? Desire for power, desire for revenge, desire for love…it’s all the same in the end. Desire is the reason that we live. It fuels our every decision. If you can only find someone who desires that which they cannot have, and you have the ability to fulfill that very desire, you can control them. They become yours to use. We may be different creatures, but in this truth we are all the same. I offered Theodore the one thing that he wants most in this world, and he offered the same to Melanippe Callis. Power. Recognition. The chance to be who they were always destined to be. Together they will be the greatest alpha and beta that this university has ever witnessed.”

Mattie tapped her shoe against the floor with the sole purpose of irritating Vordenberg. “I hate to burst your bubble, but Mel was expelled from Silas precisely thirty-two minutes ago.”

He shrugged indifferently. “Ah, it’s for the best I suppose. Talent like that shouldn’t be cooped up. Perhaps I’ll take her on as my new apprentice. She has much to learn in the art of vampire hunting, of course, but great potential.”

Carmilla glanced down to the pocket watch still in her hand. If Theo really was bringing Laura and the others to the apartment, he was taking his sweet time. She hoped that the delay meant Laura and the dubious duo of spellcasters were putting up a good fight.

—

“Where are we going again?” Laura asked Theo as she pulled Carmilla’s jacket a little tighter around herself. She’d been very surprised to find Theo Straka waiting for her, LaFontaine, and Perry outside the freshman dorm hall.

“To the Dean’s apartment, just up ahead.” Theo answered, his eyes constantly darting around them as if he feared being jumped by a figure in the dark at any moment.

LaFontaine adjusted their oversized messenger bag. The cap of their pet bioluminescent slug’s jar could be seen poking out of it. “And you’re absolutely sure this can’t wait?”

“I told you already…” He groaned. “Wilson needs your help. The vampires went back on their deal. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you this, but they’ve taken Mel. She might even be dead already. The least we can do is try to save Wilson from meeting the same fate.”

“What?” Laura was shocked. She hadn’t expected the vampires to act so quickly. When Carmilla had said that she was going to check in with Professor Belmonde after the board meeting, Laura hadn’t realized that what Carmilla had really meant was that she was off to kill a werewolf.

Theo threw back a scowl at her over his shoulder. “Finally realizing that you three picked the wrong side, are you?”

Perry panicked. “Oh, goodness me, pick a side? No, no, no! Never. LaFontaine and I, we would never pick a side. We are completely neutral.”

Theo muttered something under his breath that sounded like an insult. He stopped walking and pointed up at the front door of the apartment before them. “We’re here. You’ll have to go in first. I don’t want any angry bloodsuckers tackling me before I can even get through the door.”

Feeling uneasy about the situation, Laura ascended the front steps. Just as Laura raised her hand to knock on the door, LaFontaine squinted into the distance and pointed.

“Hey, isn’t that Kirsch over there by the administration building chasing a squirrel?” They asked, drawing everyone’s attention to the unmistakable view of Kirsch running around a tree with a squirrel’s bushy tail just out of his reach.

Laura lowered her hand and looked back at Theo. “What’s going on here?”

Without warning, Theo hopped up the steps and wrapped his arm around Laura’s neck. With her securely in his chokehold, he unsheathed a silver dagger from where it had been tucked away in the waistband of his pants.

“Get into the apartment.” He ordered. “Or I’ll slit her throat. Right here. Right now. Just try me.”

He held Laura back as Perry and LaFontaine climbed the stairs and opened the front door to the apartment. After the spellcasters had walked inside, he pushed Laura in as well. Shutting the door with his foot, Theo gestured for them to follow the hallway until it let out into a living room area.

—

When Carmilla’s eyes locked with Laura’s, she felt as if she’d just been shot with a silver arrow straight to her unbeating heart. She could smell Laura’s fear as Theo shuffled the human into the room with a dagger at her throat. The pocket watch in Carmilla's hand crushed into several pieces as her fist closed tightly around it.

“Ah, yes, do come in.” Vordenberg danced as the spellcasters flattened themselves against the wall and Theo moved to stand beside him.

Mattie shook her head. “This all a bit dramatic, don’t you think? I mean, really, is torturing a poor little human necessary? You call yourself a vampire hunter, but if you kill an innocent human you’ll be nothing more than a common murderer.”

“Who said anything about torturing the human?” Vordenberg asked seriously. “She is here to assist with the torture of Mircalla Karnstein.” He paused and sent a glance over to Laura, his gun still aimed at Carmilla. “Do forgive me, Fraulein Hollis. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but, you see, it is the _only_ way. Perhaps, in future life, you will choose your lovers more wisely."

Carmilla couldn’t take it anymore. Emotion flooded her as her mask crumbled. “You say you’re better than us, well, this is your chance to prove it. Kill me and spare the others. I’m the one responsible for all of your pain. I’m the one who killed your family. This is between us. Leave the others out of it.”

Vordenberg laughed. “And so the begging begins! Yes, this is a most excellent part, indeed. Do you remember, all those years ago, when my grandfather fell to his knees and begged you to take him and spare the rest of the family? I remember it very well. You laughed in his face, did you not?”

Carmilla could feel her time running out. If there was any way out of this, it had to be thought of quick. “I’m not that person anymore. I’ve changed.”

He nodded. “Yes, I can see that for myself. This is a new world that we live in. You’ve a human for a lover? How strange. And magicfolk as allies? Even stranger. And now we have werewolves becoming vampire hunters? The most peculiar of all!” He gestured to everyone in the room. “Look at this gathering. Such an interesting turn out. Life is full of surprises.”

The tall window behind Danny shattered as Wilson Kirsch came barreling through it. Chaos ensued. A gunshot rang out, glass rained down onto the floor, Theo lost his grip on Laura, LaFontaine and Perry ducked down with their heads covered, Danny hit the ground with Kirsch landing on top of her, Mattie charged Vordenberg, and Carmilla lunged for Laura.

As the glass finally settled, the scene they were left with was completely different than it had been before Kirsch's entrance. Mattie had one hand around Vordenberg’s throat and the other around his wrist, keeping the gun aimed at the ceiling. Theo pressed the silver dagger threateningly into Mattie’s back. Kirsch and Danny, afraid they might set off an unfortunate chain reaction if they made any sudden moves, remained on the floor covered in small cuts and broken shards of glass. The spellcasters cowered off to the side with their belongings splayed out on the ground around them. Carmilla stood in front of Laura, blocking her from any potential harm.

Vordenberg smiled. “As I was saying, life is full of surprises.”

“Dude, Theo, what are you doing? Drop the knife!” Kirsch demanded from the floor.

Theo struggled to fight his alpha’s order. “Get out of here, Wilson. This doesn’t concern you.”

Kirsch looked around the room, desperate for guidance. “I’m serious, Theo. Stop.”

Theo’s arm shook violently, nearly sending the dagger into Mattie’s back.

“We can all walk away from this.” Laura said as she peeked around Carmilla’s shoulder. “This doesn’t have to end with someone being dead.”

Mattie replied, “That’s exactly how this ends.”

Vordenberg added, “For perhaps the first and last time, Matska Belmonde, we are in agreement.”

Carmilla tried to think of what to do, but she couldn’t risk making a move and startling Theo.

“You’re outnumbered.” Carmilla pointed out to them. “You won’t make it out of here alive.”

Vordenberg was growing increasingly pale as Mattie’s grip tightened around his throat. “All the more reason to take down those that we can.”

Laura tugged lightly at Carmilla’s arm and whispered, “Keep stalling.”

Putting her faith in Laura, Carmilla addressed Vordenberg again. “Laura’s right. We can all walk away from this. I don’t even care that you killed Maman. I never really liked her all that much anyway. Or Will. You’ve done nothing to me that I can’t forgive and forget.”

Unamused, Vordenberg replied, “You may be able to forgive and to forget, but those are two things that I cannot do.”

It was then that Carmilla noticed it. A small, yellow glob was inching its way up Vordenberg’s shoe. As the slug disappeared into his pant leg, she readied herself for whatever was about to happen.

“Dude.” Kirsch weakly tried again. “Come on! Zetas don’t kill people, bro.”

Theo shut his eyes, trying to block out his alpha’s words. “It never should’ve been you. I’m the rightful alpha!”

In a surprising display of newfound trust, Danny placed her hand on Kirsch’s shoulder. “ _Be_ the alpha. You can do it.”

Carefully, Kirsch pushed himself up to his feet. “Theo, dude…as your alpha, I, like, command you to drop the knife.”

Danny rose to stand beside him. “Again. Like you mean it. If you don’t believe in yourself as the alpha, he won’t either.”

Kirsch stood up straighter and puffed out his chest. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Straka. I am the alpha. I was chosen, not you. Drop the knife. _Now_.”

With his willpower depleted, the knife slipped from Theo’s shaking hand. As soon as it hit the floor, Mattie shuffled to the side and maneuvered the gun out of Vordenberg’s hand and into her own. She aimed it at Theo.

“What are you doing?” Kirsch asked, needing to be held back by Danny. “He didn’t kill anybody! Let him go!”

“Mattie.” Carmilla pleaded. “Let the wolf go. You can expel him later.”

Mattie scoffed. “He’s lucky I don’t pull the trigger on him myself.”

Vordenberg’s eyes rolled back in his head and his jaw hung open freely. Abruptly, he fell limp. Only Mattie's hand around his throat was the only thing keeping him standing.

“Did you suffocate him?” Danny asked.

“No.” Mattie answered slowly, sounding a little unsure of herself as she turned back to look at Vordenberg.

Using the distraction, Laura moved around behind Carmilla before emerging at her side with the archer’s bow from the corner and a single silver arrow. Before Carmilla could react, Laura sent the arrow flying across the room and right into Theo’s left calf. The werewolf howled with pain and dropped to the floor. Kirsch and Danny dogpiled on top of him, effectively pinning him down.

Mattie released her grip on Vordenberg, a small smile on her lips as he hit the ground with a loud thud, and lowered the gun.

Carmilla turned to Laura. “Where did you learn how to do that?”

Laura placed the bow on the ground, her hands shaking. “I didn’t even know that I could.”

“Is he alive?” Perry asked as she and LaFontaine stood. “Is the crazy old guy alive?”

“He’s dead.” Mattie answered, sounding a tad disappointed that she hadn’t been the one to kill him.

“No one move!” LaFontaine held up their empty jar. “My slug is missing.”

“How did it get out?” Perry asked, wildly looking around.

“The cap must’ve come unscrewed, I don’t know.” LaFontaine said gloomily. “I didn’t even get to name it yet.”

“It’s in Vordie’s pants.” Carmilla deadpanned.

Everyone looked at Vordenberg. As if knowing this was its time to shine, the little neon yellow slug crawled out from Vordenberg's pant leg. The slimy glob made it halfway down his shoe before falling off and plopping to the floor on its back.

“Our savior.” Mattie grumbled. She looked to Carmilla. “Clean this mess up.” She looked down at Danny. “Take Theo before the board. I’ll call _another_ emergency meeting.” She looked back to Carmilla. “But first I’ll go look for Mother.”

“Will you let the wolves live?” Carmilla asked her, not caring that everyone was watching.

Mattie sighed. “I need time to think. Things have certainly grown…complicated.” She grimaced down at the slug. “Would someone please remove this disgusting creature before it kills someone relevant?”

—

Laura sat quietly on her bed. It was still hard to believe that she was safe, that it was all over. The mastermind behind the vampire killings was dead, and both Theo and Mel had been expelled. Professor Belmonde had even agreed to let LaFontaine and Perry whip up a memory potion to wipe the werewolves clean of their vampire hunting escapades. She hadn't been happy to let them live, but as the Dean of Students and the new matriarch of her vampire family, Belmonde had plenty of other concerns to deal with.

“Are you okay?” Carmilla asked, wrapping her arm around Laura’s shoulder.

“I think.” Laura answered as she leaned into Carmilla.

“I still can’t believe you shot an arrow at Straka.” Carmilla admitted. “What made you think to grab the bow?”

“Instinct.” She guessed. “I’ve always stayed away from bows and arrows. I didn’t think I’d be any good at archery.”

“People don’t just pick up archery on a whim and make a perfect shot their first time. Unless…” Carmilla paused. “You get it from your mother, don’t you?”

Laura nodded. “I guess humans get some supernatural traits past down to them after all.”

“I didn’t even know forest elves were still around.” Carmilla said quietly. “Are you sure that you’re actually a human?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Laura sighed.

“Hey. There’s nothing wrong with being a human.” Carmilla kissed her forehead.

“That guy…” Laura hesitated. “He was from the family of vampire hunters you and Professor Belmonde killed? The one you mentioned before?”

Carmilla had to look away. “Yes. He said he’d hid in a crawlspace. He would’ve been young. Just a little kid who had to watch his family die. I don’t blame him for trying to get revenge.”

“But how did he kill your mother?” Laura wondered aloud.

“Theo probably schemed his way inside the apartment and distracted her while Vordenberg sneaked in after. If I had to guess, I’d say Maman was ready to die. She could’ve easily taken those two down, but she didn’t. It’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of.”

“Are you going to miss her?”

“No.” Carmilla answered. “She was toxic. I avoided her like the plague.”

Laura was quiet for a moment. “So what happens now?”

Carmilla looked back at her. Slowly, she placed a soft kiss on Laura’s lips. “What happens now…is that you try to finish your second week of college without winding up in the middle of anymore murder investigations.”

Laura smiled. “Is life always this crazy at Silas?”

Carmilla shrugged. “Usually the fights are about chocolate pudding in the cafeteria, and usually no one actually ends up dead, but other than that, yeah. Just another day at good ol’ Silas U.”

“I’m really glad we met.” Laura stopped to kiss Carmilla. “And maybe now we could actually go on a second date?”

“I’m glad we met, too.” Carmilla smirked. “But this time we’re going to dinner where I want to go.”

“Okay, but those bottomless breadsticks were so good!” Laura pulled Carmilla into another kiss. “Do you…I mean, I know it's almost morning…but do you want to maybe stay over again? I would love to sleep next to you tonight. I might have nightmares, you know. I’ve never seen a man die via poisonous bioluminescent slug before.”

“I think that was a first for everyone involved.” Carmilla kissed Laura’s cheek. “But yes, I would love to stay the night again.”

“Cuddle time?” Laura asked, knowing that she probably sounded way too eager.

Carmilla kicked off her boots. “Only if you promise to never call it that in the future.”

“Deal.” Laura agreed before wrapping her arms around Carmilla’s neck and pulling the vampire down onto the pillows with her.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me here: puntrest.tumblr.com


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